Telegram raises $210M through bond sales
41–50 of 96 posts
Re: Telegram raises $210M through bond sales
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
They have never had a domicile in Germany. In Dubai, there is basically an empty office room used as their domicile.
Humm I've heard somethings about Dubai starting to require more than an 'empty room' for companies wanting to sell their services there or something like that, but not many more details
According to various comments, Telegram seems to be blocked there. Might be a smart arrangement for such services: Set up shop in a country that leaves you alone as long as you leave them alone (i.e. don't provide services there) but also ignores international inquiries and is small enough not to matter. And if Dubai ever plans to act on international pressure: An empty room is easily moved.
Re: Telegram raises $210M through bond sales
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
Telegram is one social network that has a huge potential for growth today. It is a dominant platform for War reporting from both sides. And it is not compromised by history of censorship, and CIA connections, like other social networks. We will probably see it growing in US, as we get closer to elections, and censorship tightens!
Sure - but where's the revenue come from?
They have Telegram Premium, and ads for public channels, so there are revenue streams.
Re: Telegram raises $210M through bond sales
#44People should seriously move to Signal.
From my experience of constantly using both, Signal's UX is inferior unfortunately. On both macOS and iOS Signal feels like a second grade cross-platform app with a clunky Android feel (no ribbon effect, no animations, poor aesthetics).
Telegram's UX quality is far superior to any other messenger app that I've ever used. Its social functions are quite nice too, I think Telegram invented some of them before they were copied by the others.
The thing with Telegram though is that you can never trust a private company if you are a journalist, dissident or a government official. We don't know whether Pavel Durov is as independent as he wants us to believe he is. The big red flag in the Telegram story is why it's still not banned or censored in Russia. We don't know.
But all in all, kudos to those who have built it, they have my respect, Telegram is one of the best pieces of software at least among the messaging apps.
Re: Telegram raises $210M through bond sales
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, and tax authorities who refuse to communicate by using anything else but paper documents sent as letters... Glad I will leave Germany soon.
It took me a long time to realize that in the big picture, all those inefficiencies are actually upsides. Most of what governments do is harmful to society. The more inefficient and inept they are at it, the better. Sure, it may be an inconvenience sometimes. But it's nothing compared to the dystopian horror of what a truly efficient government would look like. The "ideal" government that works purely electronically…
> Most of what governments do is harmful to society
Hard disagree. Some of what they do is harmful, and needs a vigilant and active population to keep at bay; but the vast vast majority is massively useful, or even critical. Decentralised (as in, not government managed/controlled/planned/regulated, where government could be anything from a single centralised one to a highly local one) infrastructure, education, consumer protections, healthcare, safety/security sound like a nightmare. Reminds me of thet libertarian utopia town with the bears (A Libertarian Walks into a Bear is a fun book).
> (On libertrarians) House cats. They are convinced of their fierce independence while utterly dependent on a system they don't appeciate or understand.
~ John Spaulding
Re: Telegram raises $210M through bond sales
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Humm I've heard somethings about Dubai starting to require more than an 'empty room' for companies wanting to sell their services there or something like that, but not many more details
According to various comments, Telegram seems to be blocked there. Might be a smart arrangement for such services: Set up shop in a country that leaves you alone as long as you leave them alone (i.e. don't provide services there) but also ignores international inquiries and is small enough not to matter. And if Dubai ever plans to act on international pressure: An empty room is easily moved.
I was in Dubai a couple of months ago and Telegram definitely worked. Some news sites critical of e.g. Saudi atrocities were banned though.
Re: Telegram raises $210M through bond sales
#47People should seriously move to Signal.
Move from Telegram to Signal? But why?
Re: Telegram raises $210M through bond sales
#48People should seriously move to Signal.
Signal is very obviously compromised, likely a CIA honeypot.
Just look into their PIN + Intel SGX scheme. Or lack of open-source client with reproducible builds.
Re: Telegram raises $210M through bond sales
#49People should seriously move to Signal.
From my experience of constantly using both, Signal's UX is inferior unfortunately. On both macOS and iOS Signal feels like a second grade cross-platform app with a clunky Android feel (no ribbon effect, no animations, poor aesthetics). Telegram's UX quality is far superior to any other messenger app that I've ever used. Its social functions are quite nice too, I think Telegram invented some of them before they were…
I also use both extensively and I agree, Telegram has the best UX of any messaging app. The desktop app is QT I think so it feels very snappy compared to Signal's electron app.
Signal's iOS app is a native Swift/UIKit app and open source however, so I'd encourage you to report any bugs or issues you find: https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-iOS
Re: Telegram raises $210M through bond sales
#50People should seriously move to Signal.
From my experience of constantly using both, Signal's UX is inferior unfortunately. On both macOS and iOS Signal feels like a second grade cross-platform app with a clunky Android feel (no ribbon effect, no animations, poor aesthetics). Telegram's UX quality is far superior to any other messenger app that I've ever used. Its social functions are quite nice too, I think Telegram invented some of them before they were…
WhatsApp, Signal, Google Talk and others are also not banned/censored in Russia.