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iMessage for Windows: A labor of love that will never see light of day (2018)

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Re: iMessage for Windows: A labor of love that will never see light of day (2018)

#131

Post by the_snooze »

battery_cowboy wrote: post #125
AnonC wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, WhatsApp does not bring the same features. WhatsApp is very different. You can react to messages in iMessage, which is just one among other features WhatsApp doesn’t have.

You're saying some people exclude others from their friends group because of fucking smiley faces on a message? God that would be stupid if true.

Social dynamics are subtle. For example, group SMS doesn’t support contact names. If you add someone to a group SMS, the other people only see a phone number unless they go out of their way to add the new guy to their contact list. Likewise, the new person has to add everyone else to see names. Decades of research in behavioral economics show just how powerful defaults are, so most people probably won’t bother to add names. Without names, the new person will have a more difficult time connecting with the group.

This isn’t stupid. It’s the natural consequences of tech that doesn’t conform to real human behaviors and social norms.

Re: iMessage for Windows: A labor of love that will never see light of day (2018)

#132

Post by M5x7wI3CmbEem10 »

kelnos wrote: post #40
est31 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iMessage motivates people to people buy iPhones instead of Android when everyone else in a social circle has it. Why should Apple give up on that? What will Apple gain from making it ubiquitous? It would in fact disappoint many people as now they can't use their phone to distance themselves from the people who don't have that blue circle. Note that I'm arguing from Apple's perspective here. From my own I believe they…

> iMessage motivates people to people buy iPhones instead of Android Why, though? Does your average iPhone user actually care if the bubbles they see in their chats are blue or green? If so, why? Note that I'm talking about average users. Sure, there are likely a bunch of privacy-conscious users who believe in Apple's commitment to security and privacy and prefer iMessage on those grounds. But otherwise, why? > It wo…

I would buy an Android if it weren’t for the social force behind iMessage blue bubbles and the smoothness of FaceTime.

Green bubbles signal low status. It also makes it more difficult to communicate: no read receipts, no live location, photo/video/audio messages are clunky, worse emojis, no reaction option, and so on.

Re: iMessage for Windows: A labor of love that will never see light of day (2018)

#133

Post by xenospn »

AnonC wrote: post #116
xenospn wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me - it's simply a question of reliability. SMS is not reliable in the US, and I live in an area with poor coverage. My preferred mode of communication is texting but SMS is a no-go.

If it’s of any solace, SMS is not reliable anywhere in the world. It may seem reliable sometimes in some places, but that’s mostly a facade.

And iMessage works wherever I might be.

Re: iMessage for Windows: A labor of love that will never see light of day (2018)

#134

Post by tialaramex »

lhjn wrote: post #121
spideymans wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vendor lock is real, but would that not be rendered moot of other players could offer a superior user experience? Especially when you consider that Facebook, Google and others have a far larger base of potential users than iMessage. As far as I understand, the only iMessage feature that competitors couldn't emulate due to first-party entitlements is the SMS fallback functionality, which while nice, is definitely a fe…

Nobody seems to mention Signal, which does offer sms fallback, at least on Android (don't really know on iOS).

It can't do that on iOS only software written by Apple gets to do things like that.

Re: iMessage for Windows: A labor of love that will never see light of day (2018)

#135

Post by gt2 »

jamescostian wrote: post #79
harpratap wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why, though? Does your average iPhone user actually care if the bubbles they see in their chats are blue or green? If so, why? They definitely do. Not sure what your age or demographic is, but young folks do care a lot about higher social status which is tied to blue bubble because of iPhone prices. It has nothing to do with privacy though.

I'm 22 and live in a mid-sized city, and I've seen people trying to get into a relationship (or even something more casual, but not a platonic friendship) get rejected because of the dreaded "green bubbles" - and really, I'm not exaggerating. And not from rich people who have the latest iPhone either. In addition, I have been in friend groups that would exclude Android users because if you have even 1 Android user in…

One of the most disappointing anecdotes I've read recently.

Re: iMessage for Windows: A labor of love that will never see light of day (2018)

#136

Post by M5x7wI3CmbEem10 »

aaomidi wrote: post #98
jamescostian wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm 22 and live in a mid-sized city, and I've seen people trying to get into a relationship (or even something more casual, but not a platonic friendship) get rejected because of the dreaded "green bubbles" - and really, I'm not exaggerating. And not from rich people who have the latest iPhone either. In addition, I have been in friend groups that would exclude Android users because if you have even 1 Android user in…

More of a reason not to be friends with them.

You can’t expect full commitment from people you may not know too well. The UI/UX benefits outweigh acquaintances, not friends.

Unfortunately, acquaintanceship is a prerequisite to friendship.

Re: iMessage for Windows: A labor of love that will never see light of day (2018)

#137

Post by dwaite »

the_snooze wrote: post #75
kelnos wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> iMessage motivates people to people buy iPhones instead of Android Why, though? Does your average iPhone user actually care if the bubbles they see in their chats are blue or green? If so, why? Note that I'm talking about average users. Sure, there are likely a bunch of privacy-conscious users who believe in Apple's commitment to security and privacy and prefer iMessage on those grounds. But otherwise, why? > It wo…

Individual SMS is fine. Group SMS stinks. You can’t remove yourself from a conversation unless everyone else moves on to a new thread without you. Also, you don’t get contact names for ad hoc group conversations with new people. Trying to get people to agree to a proper chat platform is like wrangling cats. If everyone in the group has an iOS device, then there’s no decision to be made.

I’ve never seen people exclude someone with a green bubble from a conversation, but I’ve seen this behavior (use iMessage as a high quality default) in spades.

Re: iMessage for Windows: A labor of love that will never see light of day (2018)

#138

Post by joshspankit »

randomdata wrote: post #34
monadic2 wrote: post #3

If ever Apple needed to open source server and client code for a public good it is with imessages. Yes it has clear limits with a centralized server, but it is realistically how a lot of “secure” messaging happens and it’s very difficult to endorse being tied to expensive hardware. You can say the same about facetime: it is clearly higher quality than competitors in every experiment I’ve tried, but their refusal to i…

Facetime was announced as an open standard to be. It is speculated that it never came to light because of a patent dispute[1]. [1] https://9to5mac.com/2018/06/06/make-facetime-an-open-standar...

Apple set up colocated servers across the world and changed the Facetime protocol significantly to work around a single patent (a patent for direct device to device communication of all things).

I can’t imagine a patent dispute actually stopping them if they were firm on making FT an open standard.

Re: iMessage for Windows: A labor of love that will never see light of day (2018)

#139

Post by M5x7wI3CmbEem10 »

battery_cowboy wrote: post #126
elliekelly wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They absolutely should care. I’m not adding you to a group text if you have an android. Life is too short to read green text bubbles.

You're a moron, I don't even care about any temp ban for saying that, too. Anyone who thinks like you do is a moron.

The UI/UX cost of Android messages isn’t worth it for acquaintances, but unfortunately, acquaintanceship is a prerequisite to friendship.

Re: iMessage for Windows: A labor of love that will never see light of day (2018)

#140

Post by toohotatopic »

zelly wrote: post #42
Polylactic_acid wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its because they use peer pressure to get you to buy an apple device. You can invite an android user to an imessage group but it apparently downgrades the feature set of the group for everyone, they also color messages from android users differently. Its all designed to discourage talking to android users so they eventually buy an iphone.

Yes, everyone knows this but you're not supposed to mention it. If you have green bubbles, you risk being a social pariah. Android use among teenagers, who are most susceptible to peer pressure, is >80%. Also I know several guys who switched to iPhones and suddenly had a much better sex life. It is what it is. Think of Apple buy-in like a tribal tattoo or rite of passage for young people. If Apple released iMessage f…

How do they manage the risk that some other chat system establishes itself? Whatsapp and Wechat had a chance because there was no open standard.

I am convinced that history will repeat itself and Apple will become obsolete again because the PC of chat will eat their Mac Chat lunches.

If their market share depends on peer pressure there will be nothing that sustains them once that pressure is gone.

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