???? – 2017retired
Funimation
“Dubbed, loved, and eventually absorbed by its own successor — rest easy, senpai.”
“Gchat by any name, we typed on until the end.”
Google Talk was an instant messaging service offering both text and voice, known to nearly everyone who loved it simply as Gchat. Google never officially blessed the nickname, but users called it Gtalk or Gmessage anyway, a sign of real affection. It ran across Windows, Android, BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry 10, ChromeOS, and even had a mobile web app, quietly threading conversations through whatever device you had.
The end came gradually rather than dramatically: in February 2015 the Windows client was discontinued and ceased to work, with users directed to migrate to Google Hangouts on the Chrome browser platform. By June 2017 the service itself was retired. Its legacy lives on in muscle memory: half the internet still opens the wrong pane to chat.
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“Dubbed, loved, and eventually absorbed by its own successor — rest easy, senpai.”
“U-H-O — it sought you, found you, and finally signed off.”
“Small in the pocket, enormous in the heart. Rest easy, little one.”