[Animats]

Then there are the "lingering death" products, such as Google Voice. Google bought that from Grand Central in 2009, and it's still basically Grand Central. There's a running joke about Google Voice acquiring an API that's been in a bug report for five years now.

I think there's a phone interface feature associated with Google Hangouts. ("Google Hangups?") But it probably requires that everyone you talk to have a Google account. All these little closed-world communications systems are a pain.

[yohui]

I think the Hangouts Dialer does use my Google Voice number. Google Voice voicemails also show up in Hangouts now, instead of the Google Voice app. Also, doesn't Project Fi use Google Voice numbers? And the recent Google Fiber home phone service?

The dedicated Google Voice app has withered, but Google seems to be integrating the service into their other projects.

[magicalist]

> I think there's a phone interface feature associated with Google Hangouts. But it probably requires that everyone you talk to have a Google account.

Er, it's a phone interface. It makes phone calls. Everyone you talk to is only required to have a phone number.

[kilroy123]

God I really hope they don't kill off Google Voice, I use it daily!

[bduerst]

Hangouts absorbed Google Voice:

"Hangouts remains the future of Google Voice, so we’re going to keep bringing the most-loved Google Voice features into the core Hangouts experience,"