Some analogue variants for different communication scenarios I heard of, but can't comply since i am nerd:
- in your neighborhood, same street, also from hill to hill: SHOUTING or YELLING (if just for signalling things, FIRE works also)
- bit farther away: SCREAM LOUDER (just signals, more noise, like twitter)
- same city: write on PAPER, drive bicycle and insert into mailbox (afterwards drive home)
- other city/country: CALL BY PHONE (moment of silence when waiting for answer is tense)
- all above but addressing many people: the above ONE AFTER THE OTHER
Poll: Switching from WhatsApp
771–780 of 972 posts
Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp
#772Telegram is a great IM experience . The client is good, feature set is good, the stickers are amusing (if you're into that kind of thing), the feature set is complete and everything is polished. Telegram is, I think, going to be one of the easier sells if you're trying to convince non-technical users to switch from WhatsApp or FB Messenger. The privacy, security, and governance story is not great though. If you care…
Telegram is my go-to because it has a browser client and a native Windows Desktop client.
Linux support is first-class native as well.
Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp
#773Earlier quoted context omitted.
For people that are not aware: There's a Telegram FOSS [1] fork which contains all kinds of fixes; and additionally is Google Services and tracking free, which means it will run on AOSP and LineageOS without any burden of push services. You can verify this yourself with AppWarden [2]. [1] https://github.com/Telegram-FOSS-Team/Telegram-FOSS [2] https://gitlab.com/AuroraOSS/AppWarden
being FOSS just in the client side, IMO changes little in comparsion with WhatsApp.
I like Telegram FOSS because it doesn't rely on google's infrastructure to run. That's good enough for me given I already made the questionable decision to run a chat client with a home-baked security protocol ;)
Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp
#774XMPP.
Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp
#775What's next ? What happens when Signal is bought by Microsoft and Discord is bought by Google ?
Discord is already hosted by Google.
Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp
#776From the listed alternatives, only Matrix is the one that actually solves the issue of not having to trust our communications to any single monopolistic entity. You could add XMPP there as well, but it really doesn't matter. What does matter is for us to start pushing for openness and start evangelizing/helping others to adopt anything that puts us back in control of our communication. This is the one thing to fix, a…
"Element's client is not "nice": we can fix it"
No, we can't. Because the time aspect matters, and if you want people to switch now, the client has to be polished now, not "when it's done". And right now, it's a mess.
Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp
#777Earlier quoted context omitted.
What gripes did you run into with Signal? Most of my friends (tech or non-tech) use Signal, so I'm really curious.
When I switched family on Xmas day 2019 it took hours for contact data to sync so that it was possible to message each other. WhatsApp setup took seconds to propagate. Luckily I was eventually able to persuade it was worth waiting for signal.
I saw someone with this issue on HN the other day. Though I've never had that myself, you can apparently pull down to refresh the contact list within Signal after tapping the "write new message" (white pen on blue background) icon.
Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp
#778Where is the "Don't switch" option? Because as much as I hate that Facebook bought them, they're part of what I would call "critical social infrastructure." Asking to leave WhatsApp is like cancelling your contract with your ISP and going offline just because you don't like the company.
I understand the social lock-in factor, but there's no technological reason why people couldn't migrate to another app.
Messaging apps, for 99% of the people, are only supposed to deliver text and media from A to B. It's not hard in 2021 to develop such an app, even with E2E encryption and 2FA, even for a CS graduate. I'm appalled by the scarcity of real alternatives to WhatsApp, considering that a messaging app is a piece of software with low technological barriers.
The solution seems quite clear to me. Force messaging apps to expose a public API, so that messages can easily be delivered regardless of the client used on both ends - XMPP used to provide exactly that, but both Google and Facebook decided to use it as a starting point and then gradually deviate from it with their own closed implementations.
If one platform decides to bully its users with "let me read your messages so I can send you better ads or leave the platform", users would simply leave that platform without losing their contacts.
Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp
#779Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is happening. First they get surprised that communication is possible beyond WA, even exactly the same. My mother's reaction was hilarious after sending me photos from Signal, free of charge. She was thinking only WA is free, every other app will charge her. I had to explain that calling, voice or video is also possible, without any payment.
How is free sustainable for Signal? I understand why WA is free based on data collection, but Signal just seems too benevolent toward its users. I read up on Signal Foundation (Acton and Marlinspike) as a non-profit which is being buoyed along by $100M from Acton. Mozilla is a non profit too, but it gets money from Google for placing Google search in Firefox. Where is the long term cash flow for Signal?
How much does it cost to run such a system and pay a dozen employees? $10m a year? Besides donation Signal does get money from the US gov because while we complain about encryption here we also realize that giving people in other countries an encrypted free form of communication helps them be freer. Our military also encourages the use because it is better that soldiers talk to their wives, partners, friends with that app than an unencrypted means and have the potential for blackmail. Same goes for politicians and many famous people (Joe Rogan recently mentioned he uses it). There is a strange dichotomy of pro and anti-encryption with the gov. But Signal does have a lot of funders and it isn't just your average person.
Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp
#780Where is the "Don't switch" option? Because as much as I hate that Facebook bought them, they're part of what I would call "critical social infrastructure." Asking to leave WhatsApp is like cancelling your contract with your ISP and going offline just because you don't like the company.
That's what you should bdo. If you don't like the company don't buy from them.
Especially when many alternatives exist.
It's just a choice to use WhatsApp not a necessity.
Just remember MySpace.