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Beeper Mini users find Macs banned from iMessage network

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Re: Beeper Mini users find Macs banned from iMessage network

#81

Post by bobbylarrybobby »

isatty wrote: post #44
cosmin800 wrote: post #17

I don't understand the obsession with imessage, what is so special about it?

It just works. You may think that this is a meme, but it really is not. Let’s say you and someone else that you wish to communicate with has an iPhone (parent, SO, friend, whoever) and things just click into place. - Extremely responsive, native, fast app with no clutter whatsoever, on both phones and on desktop devices (personally, I highly dislike web/electron apps) - Close to no spam (whatsapp in particular seems…

Don't forget one of its best selling points (especially in the US in ~2010): phone numbers as IDs. Everyone has a phone number, and your friends all know yours and you know theirs. It is the least common denominator of all digital communication. This really reduces friction compared to, say, having to share a username.

Re: Beeper Mini users find Macs banned from iMessage network

#82

Post by JumpCrisscross »

troupo wrote: post #59
nurtbo wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are its design problems?

off the top of my head: - all useful interactions are hidden behind useless slow animation and multiple additional clicks - photo selection is an awkward double scroll - stickers are tied to external apps, cannot be searched, take ages to load when you switch between sets - link unfurling and file previews are hit and miss, often take ages to happen - pinned chats are useless awkward circles that take up space instea…

> all useful interactions are hidden

Maybe this is why I prefer it. Text is first class on iMessage.

WhatsApp and Telegram messages tend to have crud, e.g. stickers and weird shit happening with photos. To each their own.

Re: Beeper Mini users find Macs banned from iMessage network

#83

Post by danaris »

rustcleaner wrote: post #69
dghlsakjg wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In all honesty, this kind of discourse is insulting to the target audience, and not going to win over anyone to your cause. If you call the people you are trying to convince "idiots, rubes, and otherwise "consumer"-personality types" then they stop listening after that point. Which is probably fortunate since you called for a "digital 9/11". Call me crazy, but I don't want a repeat of an event where thousands of peop…

Also I get to be mad. I get to show that frustration. Other people who feel as I do see me get mad and maybe they get mad too. Maybe I flutter my wings and some storm clouds appear over Redmond down the line.

...What does Microsoft's headquarters have to do with this?

Re: Beeper Mini users find Macs banned from iMessage network

#84

Post by jauntywundrkind »

gnicholas wrote: post #24
ccamrobertson wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I’m sure the founder realized early on that the prospects of this becoming a valuable company on its own merits were slim If you actually knew Eric and the history of Beeper you would understand how hilariously false, absurd and revisionist such a statement is. Eric only started Beeper after validating massive interest from Hacker News for a paid app that would unify disparate communication channels.

> Eric only started Beeper after validating massive interest from Hacker News for a paid app that would unify disparate communication channels. This may be true with regard to the general concept, but how does it relate to the decision to try to skirt the iMessage rules? Validating that people want a feature is different from (and somewhat orthogonal to) ensuring you can actually deliver it.

People had found all sorts of paths that semi work, & Beeper tried to use this well known path. It was working. It still is working. But only to a point.

It seems silly to me to condemn Beeper, when Apple doesn't have any published followed enforced rules. It has a term of service, and it has behaviors others get away with, but it's unclear and undefined from Apple what actually will cause a problem & get your registration data cancelled.

There s almost no part of me that considers such a small narrow stance where it's on Beeper to be 100% exactly how the future is going to go before they make any moves.

Re: Beeper Mini users find Macs banned from iMessage network

#85

Post by jwells89 »

isatty wrote: post #44
cosmin800 wrote: post #17

I don't understand the obsession with imessage, what is so special about it?

It just works. You may think that this is a meme, but it really is not. Let’s say you and someone else that you wish to communicate with has an iPhone (parent, SO, friend, whoever) and things just click into place. - Extremely responsive, native, fast app with no clutter whatsoever, on both phones and on desktop devices (personally, I highly dislike web/electron apps) - Close to no spam (whatsapp in particular seems…

It working well on desktop is a big one. The only other messenger that comes close (that I’ve tried anyway; haven’t had a need to use WhatsApp for example) on that front is Telegram, which not only has a Qt-based client that’s decent everywhere but several native clients (Swift/AppKit/UIKit client on macOS on iOS, UWP client on Windows, GTK client for GTK desktops on Linux, etc).

Signal could be like Telegram in this regard but its hardline no third party client policy means the official Electron app is the only option.

Re: Beeper Mini users find Macs banned from iMessage network

#86

Post by zer00eyz »

Krasnol wrote: post #50
zer00eyz wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Signal is great for certain times and places, but as a daily app it's still a bit clunky and not widely adopted. I loved signal when it was my MMS client. It did what iMessage did, only for android, and it worked in my mixed env (Mac, android). Now no more mms. I have stories now. I didn't get signal for stories, I didn't want an encrypted social network.

MMS were not encrypted and stories have been the most requested feature. It made totally sense to go this way.

> MMS were not encrypted a

iChat and signal had parity at that intersection. The color of the bubbles means something in ichat, there was a known ui component to convey that message...

Signal went from being mms + encrypted side channel to ... another messaging app adding social media features.

Re: Beeper Mini users find Macs banned from iMessage network

#87

Post by ok_dad »

dmz73 wrote: post #75
bscphil wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This site rightly has a different attitude when, say, HP remotely bricks working printers because someone used unauthorized ink. We don't sit back and say "you broke the rules and that's what happens."

You cannot argue with Apple users on any topic that is critical of Apple. For them, Apple can do no wrong. If Apple hardware breaks due to manufacturing fault, they will criticize the person for not buying Apple-care and then suggest just buying another Apple device. Apple is their identify. In this case iMessage is the safe haven that they can trust and allowing external (non-Apple) users would violate that feeling…

Jeez, you’re painting with a broad brush here. I use Apple products and like them but I think they should open stuff up more. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time I used to for dealing with tech issues on Linux or the other open source stuff, so I buy Apple which is certainly better to customers than Microsoft, for example.

I don’t get where the idea that Apple users are zombies came from. Apple users like the products and services Apple provides, nothing else, there’s no ulterior motive there.

Re: Beeper Mini users find Macs banned from iMessage network

#88

Post by paulmd »

ok_dad wrote: post #87
dmz73 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You cannot argue with Apple users on any topic that is critical of Apple. For them, Apple can do no wrong. If Apple hardware breaks due to manufacturing fault, they will criticize the person for not buying Apple-care and then suggest just buying another Apple device. Apple is their identify. In this case iMessage is the safe haven that they can trust and allowing external (non-Apple) users would violate that feeling…

Jeez, you’re painting with a broad brush here. I use Apple products and like them but I think they should open stuff up more. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time I used to for dealing with tech issues on Linux or the other open source stuff, so I buy Apple which is certainly better to customers than Microsoft, for example. I don’t get where the idea that Apple users are zombies came from. Apple users like the produc…

I've remarked many times but it's absolutely insane just how casually android users drop the "apple SHEEPLE" or "brainless blue bubbles" shit. It's so absolutely completely normalized that they don't even comprehend that it might be offensive to the people actually in the discussion with them.

statistically speaking about half this site probably has apple and most people have very specific reasons for picking them. And they've been hearing people exactly like GP casually dump on them for years - even if a particular person isn't being this direct and coarse about it, they know that's the thought process underneath.

After a while it's just another microaggression, and since they're micro you're not really supposed to call them out or act on them, but again, everyone knows what the score really is.

Re: Beeper Mini users find Macs banned from iMessage network

#89

Post by redserk »

bensecure wrote: post #72
redserk wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely disagree on this. This is Beeper, a for-profit company, throwing a tantrum, violating the ToS of Apple but leaving Beeper's users and their friends holding the bag.

Beeper would have to have agreed to the ToS for them to have broken it. It's apple's users who agreed to a ToS, and apple users who got the boot. The lesson is that apple doesn't treat their users very well, not that some no name company who's fifteen minutes of fame are done isn't responsible enough.

I'm interpreting this as incredibly pedantic.

Just because Beeper is delegating the ToS violation to a bunch of random people doesn't mean they aren't complicit. It appears they are acting in even worse faith than Apple here by suggesting their new mechanism is safe and has no side effects when it actually does.

If the cost for me to enjoy a relatively spam-free and stable iMessage experience is to simply not do dumb things, then I will voluntarily not do dumb things (at least not with an account/machine I care about).

Don't sacrifice your devices for another company's attempt at 15 minutes of fame.

Re: Beeper Mini users find Macs banned from iMessage network

#90

Post by jasonm23 »

bensecure wrote: post #74
crazygringo wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just banning. It's no different than if you get caught running cheat software in an online game. The company isn't "retaliating" against you, or even "punishing" you -- they're just banning you. You broke the rules and that's what happens.

> The company isn't "retaliating" against you, or even "punishing" you yes they are > You broke the rules and that's what happens. And when it happens its called a "punishment", which is a kind of "retaliation". Words don't stop applying because you don't like their connotation.

> Words don't stop applying because you don't like their connotation.

Yes they do. The world is full of shills and boiled frogs.

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