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Telegram Desktop reaches version 1.0

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Re: Telegram Desktop reaches version 1.0

#101
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Signal does have sync, but it works exactly the same way as Whatsapp's does, requiring your phone to be on and connected Telegram's secret chats are also client-specific and not synced, and I have no idea how it would even be possible to have e2e chats synced on multiple devices without having a "main" device that's doing the actual crypto or sharing the secret key

If you're interested in learning how to implement end-to-end chats with multiple devices, checkout out Wire security whitepaper ( https://wire.com/resource/Wire%20Security%20Whitepaper/downl... ) for one way of doing it. Hopefully, OpenWhisperSystems will release documentation about their implementation in Signal (note: it doesn't require phone, unlike WhatsApp)

Thanks! Will definitely read this.

I got fooled by Signal's requirement of a phone for the activation and thought it was also required for normal usage, I guess that's better than Whatsapp, though being able to register and use it without a phone at all would be even better (even Telegram doesn't do this though, IIRC it requires a phone number)

Re: Telegram Desktop reaches version 1.0

#102

Native all the way! Opening github page of app and seeing that pink line instead of yellow (line that represents languages used in project) made me smile! I am really surprised they did native app, plus it looks really nice, I tought "sigh, another electron app", but to my surprise I was wrong! Good job for guys at Telegram, respect.

It's Qt by the way, and it's good on the three platforms. This is the GitHub repo. https://github.com/telegramdesktop/tdesktop Development has always looked a bit fishy to me, though. The main developer is anonymous (using the name/pic of a TV character), maybe it's even several people using the same profile.

That's probably Nikolai Durov.

Re: Telegram Desktop reaches version 1.0

#103
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Um, secret chats have been there for a long time.

It doesn't seem so: https://github.com/telegramdesktop/tdesktop/issues/871

To clarify: secret chats have been present on Telegram as a platform for a long time. The desktop client doesn't seem to support them though.

This often leads to people saying things like "Telegram doesn't have end-to-end encryption". Really, what they mean is that it's not the default and isn't on all platforms. Most people can use it if they want to though because it's available on all major mobile OSes.

Re: Telegram Desktop reaches version 1.0

#104
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whats wrong with Electron Apps?

I'm not a fan because if I have 50 electron apps I have 50 builds of chromium/nodejs. This is bad because: * Lot of wasted disk space. * Each app loads a whole chromium/nodejs: lots of wasted RAM. * The chromiums may not all be the latest. This could be bad if those have network exposure: https://sobersecurity.blogspot.mx/2017/01/looks-like-you-hav...

They're also bad platform citizens. Even in minor details - e.g. they don't exclude their browser cache dirs (which of course aren't in the OS cache dir!) from TimeMachine backups, so the incremental backups get clogged by random image caches. Accessibility is limited. Right click doesn't work. And more and more.

Re: Telegram Desktop reaches version 1.0

#105
post #45

Native all the way! Opening github page of app and seeing that pink line instead of yellow (line that represents languages used in project) made me smile! I am really surprised they did native app, plus it looks really nice, I tought "sigh, another electron app", but to my surprise I was wrong! Good job for guys at Telegram, respect.

No secret chats in Telegram Desktop means its primary selling point is lost.

?

I - and I guess many with me - don't trust the encryption at all.

I assume the crypto might be broken, NSA and FSB and aliens might be listening but I don't care.

My reasons to use it:

Desktop support is way better than Whatsapp.

More possibilities (bots, channels mostly).

And because I don't want to support Whatsapp by being part of the network effect that keeps people on that platform.

The reasons I use private chats sometimes is just to use autodelete to protect my conversations with my wife against my kids.

Re: Telegram Desktop reaches version 1.0

#106
post #45

Native all the way! Opening github page of app and seeing that pink line instead of yellow (line that represents languages used in project) made me smile! I am really surprised they did native app, plus it looks really nice, I tought "sigh, another electron app", but to my surprise I was wrong! Good job for guys at Telegram, respect.

No secret chats in Telegram Desktop means its primary selling point is lost.

The encryption is often cited as its primary selling point here, but I don't think that's too representative. Certainly it isn't for me and most other Telegram users I know. I don't care much about that as I don't really trust any messaging app enough to send really confidential information through them.

For me, for example, he selling point is having an interface as slick as Whatsapp's, but not being tied to the phone, not having to necessarily give your phone number, sending whatever attachments you want, and getting a searchable log in the cloud.

Bots are also a popular feature with many users.

Re: Telegram Desktop reaches version 1.0

#107
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there any Signal-based messaging applications that work on the desktop without having to tether an Android or IOS smartphone to it, and without having to use a phone number as identifier?

This. People say Telegram is bad even though it's no worse than any other popular product, or has a different set of advantages/disadvantages both security- and privacy-wise.

From a security and privacy perspective, Telegram is substantially worse than its competitors, so this is a little rhetorical sleight of hand you've just pulled here.

If you want to argue that Telegram and Signal are comparable because Telegram has better UX and Signal better security and some people prefer UX to security, that's fine (I could not disagree more strongly, but at least it's a coherent argument). But don't pretend the thread isn't about security to make people believe that there's controversy about whether Signal is more secure. There is no controversy: Signal won the Levchin prize this year for the Signal Protocol and sets the standard for secure chat, and Telegram... well, let's just suffice it to say that it does not meet that standard.

Re: Telegram Desktop reaches version 1.0

#108
post #85
post #82

Things I noticed so far: - Dark Skin (still waiting for Slack doing it) - It's faster than the MAS version - It's not possible to collapse the chat list anymore - The desktop app is responsive, though, collapsing the whole sidebar into a hamburger menu - Replying to messages is buried in a context menu, in the MAS version one could simply double click a message - They created a giant group for themes. Once 4chan join…

>Dark Skin (still waiting for Slack doing it) Any number of any skins, actually. Themes.

Indeed. Sorry for being unclear.

Re: Telegram Desktop reaches version 1.0

#109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook Messenger.

Wait, are you saying messenger is secure and private? As if Facebook would want to give up a source of data for marketing?

It's opt-in end-to-end encrypted with Signal Protocol now, so Facebook does in fact give up that data. Having said that, you should prefer protocols that aren't opt-in for security, which is what Signal buys you.

Re: Telegram Desktop reaches version 1.0

#110
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is, but understand that not everybody cares too much about privacy, and Telegram is good--usually reliable, nice apps on all platforms, synced chats, almost limitless file storage, etc.

I think plenty of people care about privacy, which is probably why they don't want to use Facebook's acquired messenger product but rather use something independent and open source.

Facebook's acquired messenger product uses Signal Protocol for end-to-end encryption. From a security perspective, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are materially, categorically more secure than Telegram.
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