While Google's recent moves are indeed a backward step, the only way we can fight them is by having open alternatives like this available to people, and by making them as attractive as possible.

There are many practical reasons that people and organisations would rather be in control of their communications, so XMPP (or something, the protocol doesn't matter) is here to stay. The challenge is making that open network worth the big players' time, they currently don't seem to think it is.