Can I connect it to Skype/Facebook/IRC?
No
Telegram Desktop reaches version 1.0
21–30 of 201 posts
Re: Telegram Desktop reaches version 1.0
#22PSA: Telegram is dangerous snake oil—bad crypto. Don't use it, don't let friends use it. https://twitter.com/matthew_d_green/status/81899003583181619... https://twitter.com/kaepora/status/819181464369577984 https://twitter.com/matthew_d_green/status/81919238137120358...
> PSA: Telegram is dangerous snake oil
1. They don't claim to do end to end crypto unless you use the secret chats
2. The secret chats still aren't broken. Since 2013, I'd think at least one "crypto expert" (which all said a custom protocol was a bad idea) would have taken the effort to prove it by now.
3. Whatsapp claims to have better encryption, and they probably do, but it's 1) a lot less convenient and 2) unverifiable.
4. Telegram is open source. You can layer your own encryption on top of it if you care, and the clients' implementation is fully verifiable.
PSA: Whatsapp is dangerous snake oil--hidden source code and owned by a company with a terrible track record in terms of privacy.
Re: Telegram Desktop reaches version 1.0
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's ok i guess. Everyone had used whatsapp with no encryption at all before they implemented p2p. I switched from skype to telegram because of its much smaller memory footprint. 400mb+ for skype, 63mb(current) for telegram.
I am not going to comment on the quality of telegram but whatsapp have been using top notch crypto for some time: https://whispersystems.org/blog/whatsapp-complete/
At least that's what they tell you. We can't know for sure because it's closed-source.
Re: Telegram Desktop reaches version 1.0
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was just about to post something similar. I'm actually surprised to see a positive post of Telegram on HN. For the love of crypto, please stick to Signal protocol-based messaging applications. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_Protocol Edit: add link http://www.cryptofails.com/post/70546720222/telegrams-crypta...
Are there any Signal-based messaging applications that work on the desktop without having to tether an Android or IOS smartphone to it, and without having to use a phone number as identifier?
This. People say Telegram is bad even though it's no worse than any other popular product, or has a different set of advantages/disadvantages both security- and privacy-wise.
Re: Telegram Desktop reaches version 1.0
#25PSA: Telegram is dangerous snake oil—bad crypto. Don't use it, don't let friends use it. https://twitter.com/matthew_d_green/status/81899003583181619... https://twitter.com/kaepora/status/819181464369577984 https://twitter.com/matthew_d_green/status/81919238137120358...
I was just about to post something similar. I'm actually surprised to see a positive post of Telegram on HN. For the love of crypto, please stick to Signal protocol-based messaging applications. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_Protocol Edit: add link http://www.cryptofails.com/post/70546720222/telegrams-crypta...
For the love of crypto, I would like to see Signal and WhatsApp make proper desktop applications for all major platforms including Linux. Until they do so, Telegram will serve as an excellent competitor to remind them that good cryptography is not enough.
Re: Telegram Desktop reaches version 1.0
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
This should be the top reply. I thought this was common knowledge on HN?
It is, but understand that not everybody cares too much about privacy, and Telegram is good--usually reliable, nice apps on all platforms, synced chats, almost limitless file storage, etc.
I think plenty of people care about privacy, which is probably why they don't want to use Facebook's acquired messenger product but rather use something independent and open source.
Re: Telegram Desktop reaches version 1.0
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was just about to post something similar. I'm actually surprised to see a positive post of Telegram on HN. For the love of crypto, please stick to Signal protocol-based messaging applications. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_Protocol Edit: add link http://www.cryptofails.com/post/70546720222/telegrams-crypta...
Are there any Signal-based messaging applications that work on the desktop without having to tether an Android or IOS smartphone to it, and without having to use a phone number as identifier?
OMEMO [1] is based on Axolotl (aka Signal's protocol) and you can use it with Gajim on the desktop. Still very experimental though :(
Re: Telegram Desktop reaches version 1.0
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was just about to post something similar. I'm actually surprised to see a positive post of Telegram on HN. For the love of crypto, please stick to Signal protocol-based messaging applications. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_Protocol Edit: add link http://www.cryptofails.com/post/70546720222/telegrams-crypta...
Are there any Signal-based messaging applications that work on the desktop without having to tether an Android or IOS smartphone to it, and without having to use a phone number as identifier?
Facebook Messenger.
Re: Telegram Desktop reaches version 1.0
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are there any Signal-based messaging applications that work on the desktop without having to tether an Android or IOS smartphone to it, and without having to use a phone number as identifier?
Facebook Messenger.
It's rather a web app than a desktop application, isn't it?
Re: Telegram Desktop reaches version 1.0
#30Can I connect it to Skype/Facebook/IRC?
IRC: kind of, you can have a bot that joins a Telegram group and the IRC channel and forwards messages. It's getting more and more common.
Other than bots, the client is really a Telegram client, not something like Pidgin.
Personally I don't mind, since everyone's on Telegram. I actually prefer to have a client that's excellent with one network rather than a client that does quite well with many networks. Having used Pidgin and other multi-network clients in the past, they are always second rate compared to the official client. And with bots (irc to telegram bot; gmail to telegram bot; etc.) all I need is the Telegram client.
As for Skype, how do you want to connect it? Microsoft doesn't allow it, and neither would Whatsapp. Telegram on the other hand has no problem if you make a custom client...