Perhaps you'd be happier going back to AOL or Hotmail?

I don't understand the negativity around change. If they never changed, people would complain that they are in a rut, that they don't innovate, etc.

Just because GMail is still better than AOL or Hotmail doesn't mean I agree with the direction it (and Google as a whole when related to Google+ is concerned) is going in.

To be clear, I would be fairly optimistic for the "new Inbox" if it weren't for the new GChat interface which worsened my user experience to add a feature, Google+ integration, I don't necessarily want.

The complaints are not about change in general, but about changes that are simultaneously negative and inescapable. If a new version is better, then great -- but if it is worse and you cannot continue to use the old version, you have every right to complain. I avoid being dependent on web apps for this very reason: I like to be able to downgrade when necessary.

>Perhaps you'd be happier going back to AOL or Hotmail?

Hotmail became Outlook.com a couple of months ago and it's quite nice actually :)

I tried the new hangout box but I'm not able to figure out how to make calls to landlines from the chatbox anymore. Did you guys have that issue?

Hangouts does not currently support that, but it is on the way. Hopefully it is soon!