Sarmed Malik
Google Hangout is a communication software product developed by Google and was an exclusive feature for Google+. It was launched in 2013 and started integrating most of its other products such as Google+ Messenger and Google Talk into Hangouts. By 2017 Hangouts was being ready for enterprise-level communication and by 2020 the classic G suite version of Hangout was shutdown whereas the consumer version of classic Hangout still runs
Google Meet allows up to 100 members per call and also enhanced communication experience from either the web or Andriod or iOS app. It also has the ability to call into a meeting using a dial-up number and carries password authentication to provide the necessary security and privacy.
All calls are encrypted and use real-time closed captioning. However, Google isn’t happy with the Hangout name and has decided to rename it into Google Meet. It is not certain what resulted in the rebranding of Hangout Meet but for some time Hangout hasn`t had a favorable reputation for a long time. Various people still consider this to be a very confusing app as it mentions services but hasn`t been successful in providing results.
Google tried to pitch their video conferencing tool to business and has failed miserably as its name when searched points towards images of street corners which on the front doesn’t sound very formal nor professional. With the decline of Zoom, Microsoft and Google are trying to capture a 300 million user market.
