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Google Is Taking Charge of the RCS Rollout

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Re: Google Is Taking Charge of the RCS Rollout

#11

Post by AbrahamParangi »

kilroy123 wrote: post #4

The whole world has already moved beyond texting. It's called WhatsApp. I'm from the US but I've lived abroad the last four years. I'm still surprised so many people "back home" continue to use SMS texting. Everyone I know around the world uses WhatsApp. Literally, in every single continent I know and chat with people on WhatsApp. Only Americans still use SMS from what I've seen. I just don't get it.

iOS holds something like 50% of US marketshare and iMessage takes a lot of the wind out of third-party messaging apps.

Re: Google Is Taking Charge of the RCS Rollout

#12

Post by handzbagz1 »

Vrondi wrote: post #7
kilroy123 wrote: post #4

The whole world has already moved beyond texting. It's called WhatsApp. I'm from the US but I've lived abroad the last four years. I'm still surprised so many people "back home" continue to use SMS texting. Everyone I know around the world uses WhatsApp. Literally, in every single continent I know and chat with people on WhatsApp. Only Americans still use SMS from what I've seen. I just don't get it.

Why would we want to move from SMS to a situation where Facebook ALSO has a copy of every message we send? Not an improvement.

But Facebook doesn't have a copy of any message you send.

Re: Google Is Taking Charge of the RCS Rollout

#13

Post by themacguffinman »

iwasakabukiman wrote: post #3
dmitrygr wrote: post #2

RCS solves NONE of the problems that need solving, and only gives carriers another thing to charge for. Specifically: * the spec is very very complex, and most parts are optional, so no two phones/carriers/manufacturers/OS versions will ever agree on anything but the basic minimal set of features. * there is no specification for end-to-end encryption, and even if there were, it would be optional (as noted above) * RC…

> At this point everyone is too burned by Google releasing new messaging apps and then sunsetting them year later. What if they just released an upgrade to their existing Messages app and enrolled everyone by default in a new Google version of iMessage? That's basically what Apple did. Upgrade to iOS 5 and you're automatically enrolled in iMessage without any extra steps. Suddenly your messaging experience just got a…

The EU would take them to court before the rollout was finished.

Re: Google Is Taking Charge of the RCS Rollout

#14

Post by Barrin92 »

Vrondi wrote: post #7
kilroy123 wrote: post #4

The whole world has already moved beyond texting. It's called WhatsApp. I'm from the US but I've lived abroad the last four years. I'm still surprised so many people "back home" continue to use SMS texting. Everyone I know around the world uses WhatsApp. Literally, in every single continent I know and chat with people on WhatsApp. Only Americans still use SMS from what I've seen. I just don't get it.

Why would we want to move from SMS to a situation where Facebook ALSO has a copy of every message we send? Not an improvement.

facebook doesn't store your (sent) whatsapp messages, and in contrast to sms they're by default encrypted.

"Your Messages. We do not retain your messages in the ordinary course of providing our Services to you. Once your messages (including your chats, photos, videos, voice messages, files, and share location information) are delivered, they are deleted from our servers. Your messages are stored on your own device. If a message cannot be delivered immediately (for example, if you are offline), we may keep it on our servers for up to 30 days as we try to deliver it."

https://www.whatsapp.com/legal/?eea=1#privacy-policy-informa...

Re: Google Is Taking Charge of the RCS Rollout

#16

Post by meddlepal »

joshstrange wrote: post #9

The only SMS's I get nowadays are from automated systems (bill pay reminders, shipping, energy usage, etc). I don't talk to a single friend over SMS anymore. It's either iMessage or FB messenger (for Android people). Both of those provide a MUCH better experience and even if Apple ever supports RCS (I kind of hope they don't and it dies off) I won't use it without encryption. RCS is such a clusterfuck and I the carri…

I think you'll find there's a diverse set of messaging users and requirements.

My 70+ parents for example only know and understand SMS (and they've only recently started using it in the last six months). My brother uses Facebook chat but because I'm not on FB we have to use SMS as a lowest common denominator. He doesn't have friends on Telegram so he sees that as unnecessary bloat to add to his phone.

Unfortunately SMS still has bar none the easiest onboarding experience as it is the default chat mechanism on every phone.

Re: Google Is Taking Charge of the RCS Rollout

#17

Post by MBCook »

meddlepal wrote: post #16
joshstrange wrote: post #9

The only SMS's I get nowadays are from automated systems (bill pay reminders, shipping, energy usage, etc). I don't talk to a single friend over SMS anymore. It's either iMessage or FB messenger (for Android people). Both of those provide a MUCH better experience and even if Apple ever supports RCS (I kind of hope they don't and it dies off) I won't use it without encryption. RCS is such a clusterfuck and I the carri…

I think you'll find there's a diverse set of messaging users and requirements. My 70+ parents for example only know and understand SMS (and they've only recently started using it in the last six months). My brother uses Facebook chat but because I'm not on FB we have to use SMS as a lowest common denominator. He doesn't have friends on Telegram so he sees that as unnecessary bloat to add to his phone. Unfortunately S…

This is part of the genius of iMessage. You use ONE APP. Your message is either SMS or iMessage automatically based on if the other person’s phone supports it. You never have to think about it. ‘Is Billy in this app or that app?’ Nope, he’s in the one and only app you use for ‘texting’.

Such a smart decision by Apple. How in the world am I supposed to know if my contact supports iMessage or not? I can’t without coordination. But Apple can and handles it.

Now someone may still use something else (FB, WhatsApp, etc) but SMS/iMessage is practically transparent.

Re: Google Is Taking Charge of the RCS Rollout

#18

Post by MBCook »

handzbagz1 wrote: post #12
Vrondi wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would we want to move from SMS to a situation where Facebook ALSO has a copy of every message we send? Not an improvement.

But Facebook doesn't have a copy of any message you send.

Uh huh. If they didn’t keep having to ‘correct’ their ‘mistatements’ about how many people were effected by their privacy screwups I might actually trust them on that.

Re: Google Is Taking Charge of the RCS Rollout

#19

Post by saagarjha »

AbrahamParangi wrote: post #11
kilroy123 wrote: post #4

The whole world has already moved beyond texting. It's called WhatsApp. I'm from the US but I've lived abroad the last four years. I'm still surprised so many people "back home" continue to use SMS texting. Everyone I know around the world uses WhatsApp. Literally, in every single continent I know and chat with people on WhatsApp. Only Americans still use SMS from what I've seen. I just don't get it.

iOS holds something like 50% of US marketshare and iMessage takes a lot of the wind out of third-party messaging apps.

Only in the US, I hear.

Re: Google Is Taking Charge of the RCS Rollout

#20

Post by amanzi »

This is embarrassingly bad for Google. Their failure in creating a stable and long-lived messaging platform is well known but I can't believe they are committing so much into something with so much reliance on network operators and handset manufacturers that doesn't meed the needs of a modern, secure platform.
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