Skip to main content

Google Talk Down for the Count

Google Talk services are out across the board.  It all started this morning and was out for several hours; it took a while for Google to acknowledge that Hangouts and Google Talk were having a service disruption.  This isn't a typical partial network outage either since it affects all users in many regions; although Google didn't formerly admitted to be a service outage.


Users attempting to login were stuck in a continuous looping cycle leaving them with the uncertainty that it might be due to their Windows machine.   Rebooting of course didn't work; so some people here thought it was a problem with their station and tried to re-install Google Talk only to discover that it is no longer available.  I too learned this lesson the hard way after having to re-installing Windows due to an audio problem (which incidentally was triggered by Google Hangouts).

For those unfortunate soles who thought it was a problem with their computer, I'm proving a download for Google Talk here.

It seems to be an all out withdrawal from supporting the Windows platform; similarly Google Sync which allowed Outlook users to synchronize Google calendar was formerly ended last July.  It's well known that within the Googleplexes of the world, that Mac & Linux usage far outweighs Windows; in fact a contact of mine said that you'd practically need CTO approval to get Windows.  Over/under bets are currently being made as to which year Chrome support will be dropped from Windows ;)?

It's tough to start the week off with this outage, and while I'm happy to see it running again, the concern however that support for this product may permanently go away since Google declared that the Talk would be deprecated (done away with), in favor of Google Hangouts.  Our office relies upon it significantly and will need to find a replacement if Google Talk support completely stops.  Google Hangouts is just plain clunky: prone to having video complications, poor quality & delayed audio and the text chat feature is not well integrated.  The simplicity and quality of Google Talk is usually spot on; both within the desktop app, gmail integrated pane and the Android app.

For now, I'll be holding my breath to see if another viable replacement comes along for Google Apps based communication.

Comments

SANJEY said…
Great post!! I love this. Thank you for sharing this valuable information
4:15 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Windows Firewall can not run because another program or service is running that might use the Network Address Translation component (IPNat.sys)

Windows Networking Firewall failure Error Upon trying to open and configure the Windows built-in Firewall, you receive the error: "Windows Firewall can not run because another program or service is running that might use the Network Address Translation component (IPNat.sys)" Cause is due to settings left in by "Routing and Remote Access" service. Even if the service is stopped, Windows will still report this error because the network card bindings are still being held by RRAS. Disable RRAS by opening the MMC for it and "Disable Remote Access and Routing". This can also be found by Right -clicking "My Computer", opening the Service and Application node. By Disabling RRAS in this way, the network protocol interface bindings are removed allowing for the Windows Firewall and Connection Sharing service to take over.
27 comments
Read more

VB.Net code to control mouse movement and click

VB.Net code to perform mouse movements and clicks. Include references at the top of the class code file to Windows interface libraries: Public Declare Auto Function SetCursorPos Lib "User32.dll" (ByVal X As Integer, ByVal Y As Integer) As Integer Public Declare Auto Function GetCursorPos Lib "User32.dll" (ByRef lpPoint As Point) As Integer Public Declare Sub mouse_event Lib "user32" Alias "mouse_event" (ByVal dwFlags As Integer, ByVal dx As Integer, ByVal dy As Integer, ByVal cButtons As Integer, ByVal dwExtraInfo As Integer) Some fixed constant values will be needed, so include these as basic names: Public Const MOUSEEVENTF_LEFTDOWN = &H2 Public Const MOUSEEVENTF_LEFTUP = &H4 Public Const MOUSEEVENTF_MIDDLEDOWN = &H20 Public Const MOUSEEVENTF_MIDDLEUP = &H40 Public Const MOUSEEVENTF_RIGHTDOWN = &H8 Public Const MOUSEEVENTF_RIGHTUP = &H10 Public Const MOUSEEVENTF_MOVE = &H1 This
47 comments
Read more

Remove Acrobat Toolbar Plugin From Outlook and Office

After installing Acrobat Reader or Professional, a toolbar surfaces in Microsoft Office applications. It wouldn't be so bad except that even when you select to remove the Plugin, it comes right back after the office application restarts. Worse yet, the toolbar puts itself on a new line each time, reducing the usable window size. Since I rarely use this toolbar and would rather open Acrobat explicitly to use the print, email, or save as PDF features, I got rid of the toolbar. Adobe doesn't make this easy, forcing the toolbar to always be visible, unfortunately you have to modify the windows registry. Warning, don't casually modify the windows registry; since it effectivley controls Windows and most applications. 1. Begin by closing the office applications. 2. Then click start, Run, and type: regedit 3. Browse to the below registry keys and delete each one. Note that HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE is referenced as HKLM in regedit. Outlook HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software\Adobe\Acrobat\PD
16 comments
Read more