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COI – Chat Over IMAP

coi-dev.org

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Re: COI – Chat Over IMAP

#11

Post by NonEUCitizen »

vermilingua wrote: post #6
MattHeard wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are server-side changes needed?

> The COI ecosystem is the COI Standard plus compatible Client Apps and Email Servers. > COI works with all email severs, but IMAP servers can be enhanced with extra COI capability. I’d take this to mean that no, changes are not explicitly required; but without the changes COI functions the same as email, but in an IM interface.

They have a description of the client but I could not find a description of the optional server-side enhancements (besides that it should be advertised via CAPABILITY).

Re: COI – Chat Over IMAP

#12

Post by supermatt »

vermilingua wrote: post #2

Are Google, Apple, Microsoft, and other large email providers likely to implement a protocol like this into their own servers? It seems like a major conflict of interest, and without them it is a massive portion of the market that will never see this service work.

The service works as a layer on top of standard email. There will be optional IMAP extensions to reduce the overhead.

Re: COI – Chat Over IMAP

#13

Post by tompccs »

I think this could be a great solution, but consider going after Slack rather than Whatsapp to being with. Unusually I think enterprise customers will make better early adopters than consumers, as they don't care about network effects and their technological inertia actually aligns with your selling point - that it is a thin protocol on top of email.

Once people use this for their professional email address they may start to using it for their personal one too.

Re: COI – Chat Over IMAP

#14

Post by Aeolun »

kelnage wrote: post #10

"Last but not least, every COI client app can offer a variety of end to end encryption options to keep your communication absolutely private." The fact I had to read quite so far down the page to find this snippet emphasises to me how unimportant the developers of this protocol see E2E encryption to be :( And leaving it to the client seems like a terrible idea, especially if there are options, as then surely it will…

I don’t really understand why or how this is different from your current trust model around email...?

Re: COI – Chat Over IMAP

#15

Post by Y_Y »

This idea is dangerously simple.

All the same email is pretty siloed, for personal addresses. Running your own server is a hassle for anyone,and the most popular provider stopped being "not evil" some time since 2004 when I got my address there.

Re: COI – Chat Over IMAP

#16

Post by supermatt »

kfwhp wrote: post #9

Very bad choice of design for the website. I'm supposed to be interested in this, but this website looks like they're trying to sell me some multi-million contract.

Maybe we are looking at different websites (im viewing from a desktop), but I found it very easy to read and access the information I required.

Re: COI – Chat Over IMAP

#17

Post by vermilingua »

kelnage wrote: post #10

"Last but not least, every COI client app can offer a variety of end to end encryption options to keep your communication absolutely private." The fact I had to read quite so far down the page to find this snippet emphasises to me how unimportant the developers of this protocol see E2E encryption to be :( And leaving it to the client seems like a terrible idea, especially if there are options, as then surely it will…

I don’t think that means the developers don’t consider it important; it means that the people that want E2E aren’t necessarily in their primary audience.

The prime target of this protocol isn’t power users and developers; it’s the overwhelming majority of users that stick to siloed messaging because it’s convenient, and everyone has it. First and foremost, they need to be shown that this is more convenient, and has a larger and more accessible network.

Re: COI – Chat Over IMAP

#18

Post by calgoo »

Aeolun wrote: post #14
kelnage wrote: post #10

"Last but not least, every COI client app can offer a variety of end to end encryption options to keep your communication absolutely private." The fact I had to read quite so far down the page to find this snippet emphasises to me how unimportant the developers of this protocol see E2E encryption to be :( And leaving it to the client seems like a terrible idea, especially if there are options, as then surely it will…

I don’t really understand why or how this is different from your current trust model around email...?

IMO its comparing itself to Whatsapp and other messaging apps that do have end to end encryption. Thats why the current email trust model is not as important.

Re: COI – Chat Over IMAP

#19

Post by Tharkun »

Mailtemi wrote: post #8

It is very difficult to build a decent email client with IMAP. So initially thought it is a no-sense. But after reading the while proposition seem very intriguing. Although it is based on email adoption will be very difficult.

> It is very difficult to build a decent email client with IMAP

Why do you say that? I've implemented a couple of embedded IMAP clients over the years and I always found it pretty OK to work with?

Re: COI – Chat Over IMAP

#20

Post by vermilingua »

tompccs wrote: post #13

I think this could be a great solution, but consider going after Slack rather than Whatsapp to being with. Unusually I think enterprise customers will make better early adopters than consumers, as they don't care about network effects and their technological inertia actually aligns with your selling point - that it is a thin protocol on top of email. Once people use this for their professional email address they may…

No, that’s right, they don’t care about network effects; enterprise customers care about a SLA above everything else. An open protocol cannot provide a SLA.
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