On August 24, 2005, Google Talk, the company’s first instant messaging application, was launched. Almost 17 years have passed and during this time Google has not been able to clarify itself with its strategy of messaging and video conferencing applications. The latest announcement in this regard — the unification of Duo and Meet — is another attempt by the search giant to undo a colossal mess.
Meet y Duo se unen. Google has announced that will unify the benefits of the two applications that it offered until now. Very soon Duo will “disappear” as such to be integrated into Google Meet, the application that has been trying to be the reference for a long time and that, for example, in June 2020 began to integrate within Gmail.
(seems like) a good idea. Duo may not have been spectacularly popular, but this “Facetime à la Google” has long allowed for that convenient option of calling someone directly for that much more targeted contact person-to-person communication. For group videoconferences there is Meet, which is —for that matter— the “Zoom à la Google”.
What will happen to these apps. Well, something a little weird. First we will receive a Duo update that will allow us to enjoy a series of Meet options on that platform. Then that application called Duo will be renamed and will become Meet, while the current Google Meet application will be called ‘Meet Original’ and will end up disappearing and no longer being updated.
The strategy is confusing, but for those responsible for Google it is the best way to carry out this transition because “the Duo mobile application is very sophisticated, especially internally.” These advantages are noticeable, for example, in emerging countries with more erratic connections, but in the end the idea is to combine the strengths of Duo and Meet to end up with a single mobile and web application that offers the best of both worlds.
Google, to see if you clarify once. Google’s proposal seems a priori correct, especially considering that not long ago we had three different applications that should have been united from the beginning —Hangouts, Meet y Duo—. Hangouts has been replaced by Google Chat (buf), but in Google they also continue to have a debatable strategy with their messaging part.
Tell the flop Google Allo launched at the same time as Duo to be (we’re back) the “iMessages/WhatsApp à la Google.” It died quickly, but now Google poses a future in which the RCS standard may finally be the definitive option. The debauchery of messaging and video conferencing applications that Google has offered us is epic, and if you want to read a very long review of everything that the company has tried in the sector, at Ars Technica they remind us that particular chaos.
