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Google changes its messaging strategy again: Goodbye to Allo, double down on RCS

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Re: Google changes its messaging strategy again: Goodbye to Allo, double down on RCS

#61

Post by eigenvector »

eloisant wrote: post #51
eigenvector wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Re. being able to switch carriers and still communicate, what happens when you travel and (temporarily) get a local SIM? Are you suddenly messaging all your existing contacts from an unrecognized foreign number "Hi, it's John, this is my temporary Thai number..." and then relying on that message not getting binned by some spam algorithm? What prevents carriers from charging extra for RCS messages originating abroad?

In France we get to keep our phone number when we switch operators. Travel is an issue yes, but I think it's worth it to have a truly decentralized system.

At a conceptual level, it does have many advantages. For one thing, it's just part of your phone, you never have to install anything. You don't have to market it to anyone, it just automagically rolls out through the world as people buy new devices and carriers adopt it.

But I'm concerned that the intransigence of carriers, especially those that operate in non-competitive environments, will get in the way of rolling it out properly and effectively.

Re: Google changes its messaging strategy again: Goodbye to Allo, double down on RCS

#62

Post by eigenvector »

DRW_ wrote: post #57
eigenvector wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Re. being able to switch carriers and still communicate, what happens when you travel and (temporarily) get a local SIM? Are you suddenly messaging all your existing contacts from an unrecognized foreign number "Hi, it's John, this is my temporary Thai number..." and then relying on that message not getting binned by some spam algorithm? What prevents carriers from charging extra for RCS messages originating abroad?

Why are you changing your number just because you switch carriers?

Because in my example you're traveling to a different country.

Re: Google changes its messaging strategy again: Goodbye to Allo, double down on RCS

#63

Post by eloisant »

icebraining wrote: post #42
sdrothrock wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> RCS opens up a much larger world than a simple "chat" client does. How so? It's carrier-specific and thus limited to phones on carriers that support it. What about international messaging, etc.? One of the huge benefits of Hangouts is that I can chat with anyone anywhere, phone or computer, America or Japan.

I can send SMSs internationally, why not RCS? And you can send & receive SMSs on a computer. The real problem, in my opinion, is cost; Hangouts is free, SMSs aren't. And it seems RCS is designed to be billed per-unit, following the model of the latter.

In France all carriers give unlimited free SMS. Is it not the case in other countries?

Re: Google changes its messaging strategy again: Goodbye to Allo, double down on RCS

#64

Post by LaGrange »

bb88 wrote: post #31
polskibus wrote: post #16

Long time ago, Google chat supported XMPP. Later on that support has been cut off. How do they expect people to trust this statement: "We don’t believe in taking the approach that Apple does. We are fundamentally an open ecosystem. We believe in working with partners. We believe in working with our OEMs to be able to deliver a great experience,” ?

Because people want party parrots. And there isn't a standard to send party parrots through XMPP. /s Okay, a little snarky, but it makes a point. Chat programs have a lot of proprietary features that won't translate through XMPP.

Pretty sure XMPP included extensions for sending arbitrary HTML and binary attachments. Now, support for janky mobile connections, that's another matter.

Re: Google changes its messaging strategy again: Goodbye to Allo, double down on RCS

#65

Post by LaGrange »

Corrado wrote: post #2

I think RCS is a great idea and Google should be pushing it. In fact, I would argue that few other companies could make it happen in a way that Google can. RCS opens up a much larger world than a simple "chat" client does.

> I think RCS is a great idea and Google should be pushing it.

There is no end-to-end encryption, so no, it's not.

Re: Google changes its messaging strategy again: Goodbye to Allo, double down on RCS

#66

Post by kcmp »

pmlnr wrote: post #24

So Google wants SMS to go the Gmail way... how about leaving existing, working standards alone, google? You're already breaking email, which is bad enough.

An article from the verge mentioned that people were moving away from texting and are instead using services like imessage and fb messenger that restricted carriers from controlling text messaging. Carriers could either change or they could watch their control of texting slip away. This option satisfies the desire of carriers to keep their control and google's desire to fix the messaging experience on Android

Re: Google changes its messaging strategy again: Goodbye to Allo, double down on RCS

#68

Post by majewsky »

eigenvector wrote: post #40
eloisant wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Frankly, I'd rather have a messaging system controlled by carriers but distributed among all of them (like SMS and RCS) than a messaging system fully controlled by a single company like Whatsapp, Telegram, Allo, iMessages and so on. I can still switch carriers and be able to communicate with my friends. The only issue I have with SMS is that it costs money when I'm not in my home country.

Re. being able to switch carriers and still communicate, what happens when you travel and (temporarily) get a local SIM? Are you suddenly messaging all your existing contacts from an unrecognized foreign number "Hi, it's John, this is my temporary Thai number..." and then relying on that message not getting binned by some spam algorithm? What prevents carriers from charging extra for RCS messages originating abroad?

Isn't it the same with Whatsapp, Telegram, Signal, etc.? Those are all tied to your phone number.

Re: Google changes its messaging strategy again: Goodbye to Allo, double down on RCS

#69

Post by icebraining »

eloisant wrote: post #63
icebraining wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can send SMSs internationally, why not RCS? And you can send & receive SMSs on a computer. The real problem, in my opinion, is cost; Hangouts is free, SMSs aren't. And it seems RCS is designed to be billed per-unit, following the model of the latter.

In France all carriers give unlimited free SMS. Is it not the case in other countries?

Here they do, but only if you pay for a plan of over 30€/month. Cheaper plans are limited.

Re: Google changes its messaging strategy again: Goodbye to Allo, double down on RCS

#70

Post by majewsky »

hueving wrote: post #44
polskibus wrote: post #16

Long time ago, Google chat supported XMPP. Later on that support has been cut off. How do they expect people to trust this statement: "We don’t believe in taking the approach that Apple does. We are fundamentally an open ecosystem. We believe in working with partners. We believe in working with our OEMs to be able to deliver a great experience,” ?

>We don’t believe in taking the approach that Apple does. I bet the person who wrote that is naive enough to believe it due to lack of historical knowledge. Probably 95% of the current Google employees were hired after XMPP support was dead.

Probably the person who wrote it is in marketing, gets handed down a list of talking points, and has no idea about the technical background of the decision.
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