Google Talk for Windows bowing out Feb 23

Users of Google Talk for Windows may have to bid goodbye to the software as Google is pulling the plug on it on Feb. 23, a Google executive said.

 

But Google product manager for Google Voice and Hangouts Mayur Kamat said compatible third-party clients will still work after the Feb. 23 deadline.

 

"For some time now, our team has shared that we plan to focus our efforts on Hangouts. The Google Talk app for Windows will be deprecated on February 23, 2015. This will allow us to focus on bringing you the most robust and expressive communications experience with Google Hangouts," he said in a Google+ post.

 

He urged the users to switch to Hangouts, which he said connects millions of people around the world.

 

Kamat said Hangouts will let users chat with all their Google contacts, while still supporting favorite features such as text chat, presence, contact lists and status messages.

 

"If messaging right from your PC desktop is important to you, the Hangouts Chrome app or Gmail on desktop can help you reach your friends while you're at your desk. If you’re not ready to make the switch to Hangouts quite yet, you can continue using Google Talk on Windows with a range of compatible third-party chat apps," he said.

 

But he maintained these aren’t Google products, "so exercise caution when signing in with your Google account."

 

Android Police said this may be another sign Google wants to push adoption of Hangouts and let Talk fade away.

 

"But it's at least nice to see that loyal Talk users won't be completely left out in the cold," it said. — Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News