Yeah, they can't seriously expect to compete with FaceTime and Skype adoption rates if they continue trying to force users to engage with their terrible social feature crap just because they want to make video calls.
Then again, Google's playing a very long game here with Plus (and Android, and self-driving cars, and a zillion other things). Who knows if it'll work out in the end. What I do know today is that it's rather annoying.
I'd just like to be able to vidchat with friends from my chromebook without having to get all my friends to fuck up their youtube accounts.
Google+ wants to integrate everything and that can cause problems if you use their services for important things. I'm still refusing to link my primary gmail address with a Google+ account after the big issue with name verification. My name is very unamerican so until I move everything important off of gmail, I won't join g+.
I know they promised not to do that anymore, but they hold too much data right now to trust them without any access to support.
You seem to have the workaround already, though: make a separate account. I'm not going to argue that it's a good thing that you need to do that, but it doesn't seem worse than having to e.g. sign up for a separate Skype account to use Skype.
I already had a google ID. Signing up to Hangout asked for Google+ registration, forces to set the public name of the base account and forces activation of Picasa.
I actually bailed out of each of these steps once, just to check that it won't sign up without all of these.
Comparing it to skype, I actually have two skype accounts, one "public" for friends and work related things, and set on my workstation, and an obscure private one that only a few family members see, set on y phone. Having the same set up for Hangout would feel like a nightmare with all the related services entangled, switching signups even to look at pictures etc.
In that both of those are fire and forget, whereas your Google/G+ account is used for tons of stuff people don't really like but are shoved into their throats.
I do a lot of video calls with startup founders and other startup investors in and out of the Valley. YMMV but my breakdown is probably 95% Hangout, 3% Skype and 2% Facetime/GoToMeeting/Other.
Then again, Google's playing a very long game here with Plus (and Android, and self-driving cars, and a zillion other things). Who knows if it'll work out in the end. What I do know today is that it's rather annoying.
I'd just like to be able to vidchat with friends from my chromebook without having to get all my friends to fuck up their youtube accounts.