Mandatory Google+ Gmail Integration Quietly Shelved

Finally! Now, what about all those Google+ accounts that people were forced to create to make YouTube comments?

Who makes YouTube comments?

Guess not....

And Hangouts attachments, Chrome plugin also still requires it...

I live near Google HQ, and up until a few weeks ago G+ "nearby" was all Googleplex pictures and engineers at fancy restaurants. Suddenly it went virtual ghost town. The last nearby post was four days ago, and in a few posts it's down to almost a month.

I assumed Google lifted some mandatory employee G+ posting requirement.