Open source alternatives to Instagram, TikTok, and WhatsApp raise funds on Kickstarter | TechCrunch
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Sure. That's one possible vector. Is it "Open Source" software? Yes, they accept contributions for the community. It's is "Libre" software? No, they depend on closed source software.
I'm trying to illustrate that the definition of "open source" can be weaponized for no good reason. Dismissing Signal because it doesn't fit a narrow definition of "open source" makes everybody less secure. I have a hard enough time convincing my non-tech-savvy friends to switch to Signal. There's a snowball's chance in Hell I'll convince them to use something even more obscure.
@ExFed Lol, I messaged 20+ connections to step over...nobody. We have a saying "what the farmer doesn't know, the farmer doesn't like" I fear signal has to be mentioned a thousand times from all directions before they "trust" it. The publics trust is based on repetition and the concept that a big firm has more to lose than an non profit.
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Ah ok that makes sense. In my head this guy was maintaining four codebases which did seem impossible
It's not impossible if you are a good developer
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WhatsApp? Just use signal already!
It's not really a whatsapp alternative. More like a facebook messenger alternative. It replaces and encrypts dms from mastodon, pixelfed, lemmy, etc
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Is it really just one guy writing three different platforms?
Loops and sup started as upgrades to pixelfed and then got spun off.
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What can replace Facebook?
And how can anyone convince all their friends, family, and random people the follow, to jump platform?
There's Frendica
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Why are there so many downvotes? Dude said the truth. Signal, like whatsapp, is a single point of failure. It can be enshittified just like whatsapp.
We are on Lemmy and some are against everything who is centralized.
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We are on Lemmy and some are against everything who is centralized.
With so many examples like twitter, reddit, Factbook, whatsapp, instagram etc. can you really blame us for not liking centralized services? Also, I don't hate all centralized services. I love Wikipedia, Openstreetmap.org etc. Also, the outage of OSM earlier proves that single point of failure is a reason for concern.
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BlueSkyMastodon = Twitter
Loops = TikTok
PixelFed = Instagram
Sup = What's App
Lemmy = RedditSupSignal = WhatsApp -
SupSignal = WhatsApp@Andromxda why??
@fediverse @shnizmuffin -
I'm all for fediverse.
It would help with a lot, yah
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There's nothing inherently wrong with Sup, but it's very new and hasn't had the chance to stand the test of time yet. It also has very few users and isn't as intuitive as straightforward as Signal, which is basically just a carbon copy of WhatsApp (UI/UX-wise). Network effect is a very important aspect.
Federated networks aren't easy to explain to users, this is already a huge issue for Mastodon, and it's probably why it hasn't taken over social media.
As other comments here have pointed out, Sup would be a closer alternative to stuff like Facebook Messenger than to WhatsApp. I'd say Signal is still the best option for private and secure instant messaging. -
Centralized. Not good. Conversations is on fdroid and is decentralized, federated, and uses a mature and battle tested protocol. If I wanted something new, I would prefer Matrix over Signal.
What about Simplex over Matrix?
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With so many examples like twitter, reddit, Factbook, whatsapp, instagram etc. can you really blame us for not liking centralized services? Also, I don't hate all centralized services. I love Wikipedia, Openstreetmap.org etc. Also, the outage of OSM earlier proves that single point of failure is a reason for concern.
I don't like centralized services. I also never pretended the opposite.
This is for me and my usage. The caveat is that not everyone is in the tech. We can look at the disastrous communication of Mastodon. They focussed and lots of people promoting it focussed too on the “decentralized argument”. This backfired. It was not clear for the public. A good strategy would have been to market Mastodon as an alternative with an easy process to create an account on the general website. Tech people would have chosen another server and do their stuffs. People would learn progressively the decentralization part and move from server to server. This takes time. We have to put great strategies in places and be patient to bring the public to the fedi.
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@ExFed Lol, I messaged 20+ connections to step over...nobody. We have a saying "what the farmer doesn't know, the farmer doesn't like" I fear signal has to be mentioned a thousand times from all directions before they "trust" it. The publics trust is based on repetition and the concept that a big firm has more to lose than an non profit.
I fear signal has to be mentioned a thousand times from all directions before they "trust" it.
Yes. A thousand times yes. The risk profiles humans naturally adapted to are not well aligned with the artificial risk profiles we see today. I can't fault someone for not transcending their own natural instincts, because heaven knows I can't.
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Nobody but a handful of nerds uses it though. You won't get your grandparents and less tech literate friends to leave whatsapp in droves, simple as that.
And they're not going to leave WhatsApp for Sup? either.
All I'm saying is we've had an alternative for decades, even before WA was created, we don't need another one, we need the one we already have to have more success. -
what happened to pidgin
Pidgin is a client, not a specific protocol.
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What about Simplex over Matrix?
Sure, it looks great. But it doesn't have the popularity of Matrix, which is already less popular than XMPP which has enjoyed decent adoption since it's inception.
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I worked for years in one of the biggest in telecom companies in Europe. They supported RCS for about 2 years, before they stopped. I tried to restart the project, but there was no interest. It is viewed as a waste of money since customers already use Google Messages, iMessage, Facebook Messenger, Snapchat and WhatsApp.
So Snapchat is lossinh money with its service?
I don't think so -
Pidgin is a client, not a specific protocol.
I know, I just remember I used to use it with jabber xmpp but I think after everyone got gtalk and then everyone got cellphones everyone moved away from those types of clients
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I’m guessing using Kickstarter has the benefit of adding hype as a new thing. I’ve always been curious about Open Collective and Liberapay. Have you tried it? Was it a smooth process?
We use Open Collective to fund the instance and it has been pretty smooth sailing. Would definitely recommend to anyone running an instance.
