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Microsoft somehow brings iMessage to Windows – will it last?

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Re: Microsoft somehow brings iMessage to Windows – will it last?

#61
post #15
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a little odd that the US is so iMessage-heavy when the rest of the world isn't but IMO relying on another proprietary protocol (i.e. WhatsApp) really isn't great either. I kind of think everyone is in an awful place.

I think text massages (SMS) are much more popular in US than in some other countries (obviously there are a lot of places where people still use SMS besides US). Not sure how accurate is the data but this seems interesting: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1263720/mobile-messaging...

US historically was much more into "unlimited" plans vs pay-per-use was/is more of a common thing in poorer countries. That may explain the prevalence of SMS in the US.

Re: Microsoft somehow brings iMessage to Windows – will it last?

#62
post #8
post #4

Having switched back to Android, it can be infuriating dealing with iPhone users. I get slammed with "messages" when someone reacts to a message and oftentimes, messages just don't show up or messages go to my iPad and not my phone. Apple makes this extremely confusing. The iPhone users never know of their message goes through or what they're actually sending to (my iCloud account or my phone number).

Having lived all over the world, but not the US, I don't think I've sent or received an SMS/text message once in the last decade (except for bad 2FA implementations). Apple's weird and semi-transparent (to the user) hybrid system of mixing a proprietary web protocol and SMS in the same app is obviously problematic, and the rest of the world moved on to other messaging services, but it's weird that the US is still stu…

[deleted]

Re: Microsoft somehow brings iMessage to Windows – will it last?

#63
post #4

Having switched back to Android, it can be infuriating dealing with iPhone users. I get slammed with "messages" when someone reacts to a message and oftentimes, messages just don't show up or messages go to my iPad and not my phone. Apple makes this extremely confusing. The iPhone users never know of their message goes through or what they're actually sending to (my iCloud account or my phone number).

I’m the opposite. There’s always one PITA android user breaking text threads for teams or school things.

The worst was one of the crappier phones that would send a half dozen differently scaled pictures.

Re: Microsoft somehow brings iMessage to Windows – will it last?

#64

This seems similar to the limited messaging integration in some cars (e.g. Teslas). You can send and receive SMS and iMessages, but no media or group texts. The latter is a serious limitation in practice.

This is mostly a Tesla problem. Almost every other car produced today supports CarPlay and Android Auto. It is a regular source of frustration for me when I'm driving our Model 3, sending/receiving text messages using the Tesla voice interface is an exercise in frustration.

Refusing to implement a closed-box proprietary connection like CarPlay, and experiencing a degradation of service because the service provider limits the capabilities of cheaper, simpler, and more open protocols, isn't a Tesla problem; its an Apple problem. Imagine if Google suddenly started forcing people to use the Gmail app to send multi-recipient emails, such that the Apple Mail app over IMAP could only send to one person.

Re: Microsoft somehow brings iMessage to Windows – will it last?

#65

I think this is a trojan integration. MS will promptly appeal to the regulators (and possibly litigate) as soon as Apple breaks this.

I agreed with you until I stopped and wondered...why? If Windows Phone were still around, this would make sense. Since it's not, I don't see Microsoft's incentive to get bogged down in litigation on messaging.

What made you agree in the first place? It's an unfounded claim that (to me) appears to be rooted in Apple's "us against the world"-style marketing. Microsoft has written apps for Apple for decades - why would they betray them for poorly-made iMessage integration?

I'm legitimately trying to understand how someone could come to this conclusion. Either Apple is complicit in allowing Microsoft's backdoor, or it's not trojan horse. It is obviously not the former.

Re: Microsoft somehow brings iMessage to Windows – will it last?

#66
post #9
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having lived all over the world, but not the US, I don't think I've sent or received an SMS/text message once in the last decade (except for bad 2FA implementations). Apple's weird and semi-transparent (to the user) hybrid system of mixing a proprietary web protocol and SMS in the same app is obviously problematic, and the rest of the world moved on to other messaging services, but it's weird that the US is still stu…

It is a little odd that the US is so iMessage-heavy when the rest of the world isn't but IMO relying on another proprietary protocol (i.e. WhatsApp) really isn't great either. I kind of think everyone is in an awful place.

Signal was starting to gain some traction here IMO because it was open source and therefore a bit more trustworthy, and it gracefully fell back to SMS so people could adopt it without risk and interruption to their existing network. Then they decided they were going to shoot themselves in the foot and drive off a cliff. Unbelievably frustrating.

Re: Microsoft somehow brings iMessage to Windows – will it last?

#67
post #8
post #4

Having switched back to Android, it can be infuriating dealing with iPhone users. I get slammed with "messages" when someone reacts to a message and oftentimes, messages just don't show up or messages go to my iPad and not my phone. Apple makes this extremely confusing. The iPhone users never know of their message goes through or what they're actually sending to (my iCloud account or my phone number).

Having lived all over the world, but not the US, I don't think I've sent or received an SMS/text message once in the last decade (except for bad 2FA implementations). Apple's weird and semi-transparent (to the user) hybrid system of mixing a proprietary web protocol and SMS in the same app is obviously problematic, and the rest of the world moved on to other messaging services, but it's weird that the US is still stu…

If I have to trust any company with my data, I'll take Apple over Facebook any day. WhatsApp is not the answer.

Re: Microsoft somehow brings iMessage to Windows – will it last?

#68
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As much as I don't like WhatsApp for other reasons, at least it's honest in a way that you know that messages sent over WhatsApp will be sent and received using WhatsApp, and not some confusing half-backed combination of SMS and another App that you can't control. iMessage is not the only one at fault here, Google Messages (or how they call it today) is not better. It's the first thing I disable when switching to a n…

WhatsApp can also be confusing. It's a message client but yet is tied to your phone number. I recently logged into a backup phone that has WhatsApp on it. The reason WhatsApp is in the backup phone is because you cannot backup between iOS and Android. So I left it there. i recently got a new phone, so I tried to back up WhatsApp, but it claims no such backup exists, which is not true. So I log into the backup phone a…

> The reason WhatsApp is in the backup phone is because you cannot backup between iOS and Android. So I left it there. i recently got a new phone, so I tried to back up WhatsApp, but it claims no such backup exists, which is not true.

You can migrate between iOS and Android, but I think Android > iOS is a very recent feature.

iOS backs up to either iTunes as part of a phone backup, or separately to iCloud within its own app container; and Android backs up to Google Drive. I'm very surprised that WhatsApp on iOS doesn't support Google Drive either, given that it's the more "open" of the two.

[1] https://faq.whatsapp.com/1295296267926284/

[2] https://faq.whatsapp.com/686469079565350/

Re: Microsoft somehow brings iMessage to Windows – will it last?

#69
This is the same mechanism utilized by Tesla and their "iMessage" integration.

It won't be patched (any time soon at least); however, it is severely limited. No prior history is able to be loaded; no sending/receiving/viewing of pictures, group chats don't function... the list goes on.

Re: Microsoft somehow brings iMessage to Windows – will it last?

#70
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is mostly a Tesla problem. Almost every other car produced today supports CarPlay and Android Auto. It is a regular source of frustration for me when I'm driving our Model 3, sending/receiving text messages using the Tesla voice interface is an exercise in frustration.

Refusing to implement a closed-box proprietary connection like CarPlay, and experiencing a degradation of service because the service provider limits the capabilities of cheaper, simpler, and more open protocols, isn't a Tesla problem; its an Apple problem. Imagine if Google suddenly started forcing people to use the Gmail app to send multi-recipient emails, such that the Apple Mail app over IMAP could only send to o…

My frustrations with the Tesla app are 100% about the poor UI and voice interaction, not the inability to send multi-recipient text messages from the car. The degradation has nothing to do with any limitation by Apple or its API, but rather Tesla's choice to lock users out of two well-established mobile platforms. Why do you feel like Tesla is the good guy here, they have the smallest, most exclusive, least open garden in this conversation.
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