Say bye to Google Talk, say hi to Hangout

Google Talk users would need to switch to Hangout app if they wished to continue using Google's messaging service.

Google had reported earlier that  GTalk services would be discontinued on 16 February. Google product manager (Google Voice and Hangouts) Mayur Kamat stated on a Google+ post, "The Google Talk app for Windows will be deprecated on February 23, 2015".

He further added, "This will allow us to focus on bringing you the most robust and expressive communications experience with Google Hangouts."

Though Google had been pushing the messaging app Hangout, GTalk had been the most preferred choice of many users. Users find several GTalk features like file sharing, the invisible-mode, and others far more convenient than the Hangout features.

However, Kamat in his post shared, "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 like Jitsi, Psi, Instantbird, Miranda IM and many others). Please keep in mind these aren't Google products, so exercise caution when signing in with your Google account."