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XMPP: The Gem of Instant Messaging

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Re: XMPP: The Gem of Instant Messaging

#91

I think the big issue with XMPP are the clients. Element is so much better that it's hard not to recommend Matrix to people despite its bloat and metadata leakage problems. JMP/Snikket for tying a normal phone number to your XMPP @ are really convenient, but the clients remain a problem. Plus, SIP dialers are not supported on IOS afaik. I am really surprised there isn't a venture backed company pushing XMPP forward.…

I'm trying to think of a way to add some value other than anecdotal disagreement, but I am just shocked at this statement because I can't think of a single piece of software I think Element is "better" than.

Re: XMPP: The Gem of Instant Messaging

#93
post #6

XMPP lost because the spec is overcomplicated and hard to implement. As a result, good clients never materialized and innovation was really hard to do. Everything in this article is an offshoot of the overcomplicated spec.

There are good clients. Whatsapp, Grindr, Kik, League of Legends, Fortnight, Eve Online. They have something in common though: not letting users communicate outside their own ecosystems.

For what it's worth, Grindr's chat hasn't been powered by XMPP since April 2024.

Re: XMPP: The Gem of Instant Messaging

#95
post #46

XMPP was not a mobile friendly protocol for a while, had efficiently no security out of the box and lacked simplest things like image or other file transfers.

When was this? It's had most of these things for quite a while, but I'd be curious specifically what was missing and when or if there are still gaps? To my knowledge it had most of these things before any other chat protocol was widespread and prior to the great silo-ing.

Awhile ago. XEP-0286 (mobile connection improvements) dated 2018-01-25. File sharing has many different XEPs and I have no idea which works, but I know that early XEPs usually didn't work because of NAT. XEP-0384 (encryption) dated 2022-01-18.

Re: XMPP: The Gem of Instant Messaging

#97

The SMS gateway provided by jmp.chat has made XMPP fairly awesome for me. I have an XMPP client on all my devices and SMS contacts are just more contacts in my roster.

> SMS contacts are just more contacts in my roster

Sorry for the question but i don't really understand what this means?

Re: XMPP: The Gem of Instant Messaging

#98
post #84
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It can't be fixed. It's dead. Lots of good XMPP implementations disprove this. I hope Matrix just goes away and stops distracting the FOSS community from improving existing internet standards instead of custom protocols by random startups :)

> Lots of good XMPP implementations disprove this. A list, please. For iOS, Android, macOS, Windows. > I hope Matrix just goes away and stops distracting the FOSS community from improving existing internet standards instead of custom protocols by random startups :) XMPP had its chance, it blew it.

> XMPP had its chance, it blew it.

It's not like Matrix is killing it.

It's not exactly a new protocol, yet still feels like it's in the pre-alpha stage. Both protocol and the client/server software.

Re: XMPP: The Gem of Instant Messaging

#99

XMPP is nice, I like pidgin as a client. I'm not a fan of modern chat applications having such a focus on group messaging/channels; I miss IM-focused desktop messaging software. Unfortunately, getting people you know to actually USE your preferred chat software is more difficult than running an XMPP server. Often I've met people online or IRL and exchanged phone numbers with them only for them to ask to move to Disco…

Writing bridges isn't a bad idea to fill the gap between old software for protocols nobody uses, and new protocols that have poor clients.

For example, I'm writing this post with `vim` using `slrn` news reader, which uses a bridge that translates HN to NNTP (and vice versa).

Re: XMPP: The Gem of Instant Messaging

#100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, most countries have a single instant messaging app (usually WhatsApp) that's dominant now so there's no big need for it I guess.

But dominant doesn't mean it's the only one... most of my friends are on WhatsApp, but I use iMessage to talk to my wife (unless it's a group of friends then it's back to WhatsApp), apart from one or two friends who aren't o ln WhatsApp and then I use FB messenger... we have one gaming group with one guy not on FB and one guy not on WhatsApp, so I'm the meatware bridge between them. And then I have people who only us…

> But dominant doesn't mean it's the only one

It often does. Check out these statistics:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1311229/whatsapp-usage-m...

This is likely a huge underestimate too. They put UK at 71% but in practice it's used by everyone. You'd be a weirdo not to have WhatsApp in the UK, like not owning a smartphone.

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