Google Groups: The Orphan Child

It's been quite a while, now, since Google rearranged the menus providing links to their various sites and tools. And right from the start Google Groups has been Missing In Action. At first I thought it might just be a small oversight, but evidently it's a deliberate design decision.

Google Groups: Nowhere to be found.

I wonder why... I find Google Groups to be one of the most useful tools they offer, especially when I am working with people who are not very net-savvy -- those who are not as comfortable with web-based tools as I am. The only rationale I can come up with is that Google would like us all to migrate over to g+ and abandon the somewhat old-school "forum" style that is Groups. Ain't gonna happen!

Unless they force the issue by killing-off Groups, in which case I will hazard a guess that existing fora using Google Groups as their carrier will simply hike on over to elsewhere that does provide a forum-style interface.

I'm not a huge fan of forum-style UX, and I avoid it as far as possible, but it is something simple and familiar to many people, and so sweetly occupies a place where it is the best thing to use because it is the simplest thing for the largest number of users. I do hope it's not going to vanish completely in a stupid attempt to force everyone over to g+... (Like what Microsoft seem to be trying to do to their user-base.) That would be,... well, not quite Evil, I guess,... but certainly quite an unfriendly move.