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NovaChat: Multi-Network Chat

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Re: NovaChat: Multi-Network Chat

#101

Post by GekkePrutser »

Nextgrid wrote: post #81
cyphar wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Keeping all those different bridges running over time is difficult. The issue is that most of the services Matrix tries to bridge to are basically hostile entities (except IRC and Slack). I'm honestly shocked how well Matrix bridging works when you take that into consideration -- and unsurprisingly the Slack and IRC bridges are the nicest ones to use. But I will admit that I think Matrix's marketing around bridging…

I'm not sure I agree with it. The hostility of the services is one thing, but regardless of that there's definitely a lack of UX around "tunneling" into third-party accounts. Most bridges require your own session on the third-party service (sometimes provided by a session cookie in the config file) and then invite you to a private room for each conversation through that service. There is no concept of a login UI for…

Yes this is another issue. Each bridge has its own way of managing things. In some (like Signal) you have to run a CLI command, in others you have like a bot where you can tell it what to do. It's not really standardized in Matrix.

Re: NovaChat: Multi-Network Chat

#102

Post by pmlnr »

pabs3 wrote: post #92
o-__-o wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an original contributor to pidgin when it was marko’s gaim, I am flabbergasted at the state of open source chat today. I wonder if libpurple just needs to be updated to support cloud services/various chat apis. I’d be willing to bootstrap that project...

There are already libpurple plugins for various chat systems, for example Discord: https://github.com/EionRobb/purple-discord/

There are many more.

Facebook MQTT: https://github.com/dequis/purple-facebook

Telegram: https://github.com/majn/telegram-purple

Skype web: https://github.com/EionRobb/Skype4pidgin

Pidgin is a life saver.

Re: NovaChat: Multi-Network Chat

#103

Post by GekkePrutser »

cyphar wrote: post #52
GekkePrutser wrote: post #43

Cool, I'm running a Matrix service like this myself but it's been a bit hit and miss. Keeping all those different bridges running over time is difficult. Especially the signal one is a real PITA, often contacts stop getting my messages from matrix while I still get theirs. And Whatsapp requires whatsapp web so you need to keep the client running on your phone 24/7 or run it in an Android VM which is pretty heavy. And…

> Keeping all those different bridges running over time is difficult. The issue is that most of the services Matrix tries to bridge to are basically hostile entities (except IRC and Slack). I'm honestly shocked how well Matrix bridging works when you take that into consideration -- and unsurprisingly the Slack and IRC bridges are the nicest ones to use. But I will admit that I think Matrix's marketing around bridging…

I actually think Slack doesn't bridge very well with Matrix. One of the things I'm having issues with is the threaded chat, where in Matrix every thread appears as individual message replies, leading to a very confusing overview if multiple threads are being replied to at the same time.

Also, the API token is hard to get and it says you might get banned for using the 'xoxo-' token. Though I did it anyway :)

I was a big fan of Slack until they dropped their IRC bridges, but unfortunately some communities I'm on are still only on there.

Re: NovaChat: Multi-Network Chat

#104

Post by peterburkimsher »

sixhobbits wrote: post #99
peterburkimsher wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

BeWelcome.org is trying hard to get that "critical mass". I won't explain the whole history of CouchSurfing demanding membership fees and locking people out of accounts, because I don't want to complain. The focus within the community is about volunteering and building a new future together. It's primarily about letting people stay in each others' houses for free, yet there's more to the community that just hosting a…

It says its open source, but the only link to this in the faq says you should "get access" to the source via some developers circle(?) which goes to an apache "it works" page

Sorry that the link is wrong! This is the Github project:

https://github.com/BeWelcome/rox

There's no closed "developer's circle", it's an open group that anyone can join - I just made an account about a month ago.

Re: NovaChat: Multi-Network Chat

#105

Post by pxtail »

addajones wrote: post #3

Trillian, Adium, Pigdin for 2020? Lol. What a mess the internet has become.

Thing is that situation is much worse because there are no official APIs for most of the networks (most popular ones) this project aims to support - and it means constant uphill battle eventually doomed to fail. In addition to that if the project will ever become something more than just a gimmick then I think that entities like FB, Apple will use active countermeasures: technical and legal to discourage authors.

Re: NovaChat: Multi-Network Chat

#106

Post by UnnoTed »

c-smile wrote: post #66

While we are on this page... If someone need my help in creating native Chat UI please let me know, I can help to do it with Sciter: https://terrainformatica.com/2019/09/23/sciter-chat/ It could be purely native application or something along the lines of Sciter Quark ( https://quark.sciter.com )

I'm making one, it wont be open-source but i'll respect privacy, allow free self-hosting... imagine a discord(call features) + slack(paid for companies).

https://imgur.com/uSA8AMs.png https://imgur.com/P9ckNBn.png https://imgur.com/L9fDMKQ.png

Ram usage is currently at 12-50mb on windows, up to 90mb with 50 messages with images(unoptimized, no virtual scrolling yet).

The server will be a single binary, there is still a lot to do: pin messages, emojis, avatars, community avatar, search... i want it (server+desktop) to be done by the end of the year.

Re: NovaChat: Multi-Network Chat

#107

Post by packetlost »

entropie wrote: post #78
packetlost wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ehhhh maybe. I don't think the general population will be dropping Facebook/Twitter/Reddit anytime soon.

Facebook is actually dying. Ask people around you that younger than 20 years (+- a few). No one is using facebook at that age. Facebook is for boomer.

I'm 23 and about half my friends have and actively use Facebook. It's dying, but not _that_ quick. FB owns Instagram too, which is far more popular with the younger crowd.

Re: NovaChat: Multi-Network Chat

#108

Post by jqpabc123 »

smt88 wrote: post #86
lowmemcpu wrote: post #33

> NovaChat is a paid app with a monthly fee of $10 (price may go up after beta period) Wow $10/mo?! Pidgin was the multi-network chat tool, and was free! I'd understand $10 one-time, but not per month. And the price may go up? No thanks

The $10 price tag is a huge selling point for me. It signals a few things: 1) It's less likely to be abandoned. 2) It has less (hopefully no) incentive to secretly monetize me or my data. 3) Instead of being a side project for a handful of people, this has the potential to be the full-time project for at least one person. I was a heavy Pidgin user too, and when you're in an arms race with Google, Facebook, etc. (all…

1) It's less likely to be abandoned.

Flawed assumption.

A $10 monthly fee may severely limit it's use --- and the less it is used, the more likely it is to be abandoned.

Personally, I think a $10 annual fee would be more reasonable but finding the magic sweetspot between users and dollars is a market research topic.

Re: NovaChat: Multi-Network Chat

#109

Post by smt88 »

jqpabc123 wrote: post #108
smt88 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The $10 price tag is a huge selling point for me. It signals a few things: 1) It's less likely to be abandoned. 2) It has less (hopefully no) incentive to secretly monetize me or my data. 3) Instead of being a side project for a handful of people, this has the potential to be the full-time project for at least one person. I was a heavy Pidgin user too, and when you're in an arms race with Google, Facebook, etc. (all…

1) It's less likely to be abandoned. Flawed assumption. A $10 monthly fee may severely limit it's use --- and the less it is used, the more likely it is to be abandoned. Personally, I think a $10 annual fee would be more reasonable but finding the magic sweetspot between users and dollars is a market research topic.

> Flawed assumption.

It's not an assumption. I have been burned by FOSS (e.g. libpurple and Rambox) that were abandoned. I have not yet been burned by any paid software. The latter is much, much rarer. If you charge anything and have users, you can sell the business to someone who will keep it going, even if you're not cash-flow positive yet.

> A $10 monthly fee may severely limit it's use --- and the less it is used, the more likely it is to be abandoned. Personally, I think a $10 annual fee would be more reasonable

You may serious underestimate how difficult it is to reverse-engineer and maintain client libraries for messaging services. $10/user/year is not reasonable.

Someone could sustain themselves with just 300 users at that rate, and they could live comfortably with 1,000 users.

For something I use for hours every day for work, $10/mo is absolutely nothing.

Re: NovaChat: Multi-Network Chat

#110

Post by c-smile »

UnnoTed wrote: post #106
c-smile wrote: post #66

While we are on this page... If someone need my help in creating native Chat UI please let me know, I can help to do it with Sciter: https://terrainformatica.com/2019/09/23/sciter-chat/ It could be purely native application or something along the lines of Sciter Quark ( https://quark.sciter.com )

I'm making one, it wont be open-source but i'll respect privacy, allow free self-hosting... imagine a discord(call features) + slack(paid for companies). https://imgur.com/uSA8AMs.png https://imgur.com/P9ckNBn.png https://imgur.com/L9fDMKQ.png Ram usage is currently at 12-50mb on windows, up to 90mb with 50 messages with images(unoptimized, no virtual scrolling yet). The server will be a single binary, there is still…

If Sciter sounds interesting for the project, please contact me at https://sciter.com/contact_us/
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