Open source alternatives to Instagram, TikTok, and WhatsApp raise funds on Kickstarter | TechCrunch

[notsteve_@lemmy.ca]

Is it really just one guy writing three different platforms?

[matombo@feddit.org]

afaik not really, only cell phone companies can apply to join the rcs federation and all of them just outsourced it to google and apple so it under control of just 2 companies.

so no, rcs is not an open standard.

[jagged_circle@feddit.nl]

Not on FDroid. Not open source

[jagged_circle@feddit.nl]

Friendica

[archchan@lemmy.ml]

But it is open source. And there's a fork of Signal available on F-Droid called Molly.

[underscores@lemmy.dbzer0.com]

There's hundreds of other contributers, but he started them all and did the bulk of the work. The plan is to have more regular developers if they get enough donations.

[winterfrost@lemm.ee]

I'm all for fediverse.

[notsteve_@lemmy.ca]

Ah ok that makes sense. In my head this guy was maintaining four codebases which did seem impossible

[jagged_circle@feddit.nl]

It is not open source. That's why its not allowed on fdroid. It has parts that are open source, like most apps. But the app itself is closed source and a risk

[nursery2787@lemmy.ml]

Simplex is a much closer alternative

[suoko@feddit.it]

The number of cell phone companies is so high nowadays that it could be compared to the number of fediverse instances.
They would just need a prepackaged docker to set it all up and they would just do it.
No need for eternal history of messages and media, they could manage it a la WhatsApp.

[jackalope@lemmy.ml]

The only part that isn't open source is their spam filter.

[jagged_circle@feddit.nl]

Nope. Google deps

[sudneo@lemm.ee]

I don't know how sup will be, but signal is a mature product, run by a nonprofit, with functional apps etc. I moved my group of friends and my family years ago and it has all the essential features. People want stuff that just works, especially for talking and communicating daily. I doubt sup will be the same level of maturity while also offering the same security and privacy features as signal does, at least for years to come.

[scrollone@feddit.it]

Also, Google will kill RCS sooner or later.

[itjustdonn@slrpnk.net]

Isn't Hubzilla the next one they made?

[matombo@feddit.org]

still more work then just letting google handle it for them, so wont happen

[perfectly_boiled_pizza@lemmy.world]

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.

[warmaster@lemmy.world]

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.

[deway@lemmy.world]

People act like we need an alternative to Whatsapp but XMPP/Jabber exists and is much older.