this post was submitted on 07 Nov 2023
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So, if WhatsApp eventually fails, can we accept for at least just this once, to move on to something that is not proprietary and owned by a large company, please? Please, for the love of everything can we please for once move on to something that is open source and for just this once not repeat the same fucking mistake over and over again?
Nope. Ease to use will always triumph over open source
We've got all these devs volunteering time to these FOSS projects but rarely do we have people whose role is to figure out what users want. Devs tend to design from the perspective of "what features do "I" care about" which isn't always aligned with what users care about.
What's not easy about Signal, though? :c
Signal needs automatic cloud backups so badly. They're encrypted anyways, why not allow it as an option?
I've used it for years now and it's great and I managed to get all my friends to install it. But manual backups are basically impossible for the average user. Also it'd be nice if we could bulk export pictures more easily.
You know what's funny, Snapchat is and always was a confusing mess of a service. Didn't stop it.
It's not ease of use that closed-source brings, it's a brand image. Companies like Apple, MS, Amazon, spend millions annually on shaping their brand. That image makes people feel at ease. It provides context, trust and a sense of familiarity and security because "why would Apple ever spy on me, they are a publicly traded company used by billions?" is more favourable than "oh some geeks made this thing in their basement and can watch me??"
FWIW, I don't think the last sentence is quite right. I think it's more like, "oh, some geeks made this thing in their basement? ok, but I have this already made by a rich company."
Privacy isn't on the radar, ease of use, design, and how it makes you look to other people are.
I dont think so, Apple Google Meta and Microsoft have to grow their revenue so they will have to make their service either more expensive or crappier. And I think, at some point, this will drive people to open source alternatives. Or atleast I hope so
I want to add "federated" to your list, as the only thing that actually matters long term. Signal checks your requirements but has already started to turn user-hostile (e.g. it mandates its own client so you get to have crypto payments whether you like it or not), and, as the single point of control, is an easy target and a single major liability.
Remember the days when WhatsApp was nice to its users? There is no technical guarantee that other centralized systems won't go the same path, which is largely mitigated when the network is made of smaller interoperable actors (i.e. a federation).
I would love to see XMPP be rediscovered and massively adopted as that next gen messenger. I don't trust Matrix to ever be reliable or get past their neverending funding troubles.
There are many people on the privacy communities that will preach about Telegram. Those are supposedly "privacy conscious" folk. Bro, most people just need a slick looking interface that makes them feel cool. Hating on Meta is also somewhat cool at the moment, and those two reasons are why most people switch.
There is no hope.
Telegram doesn't even support encryption for group chats!
Why do people still have faith in this broken system? Companies the size and reach of Meta, do not "fail". Big companies like these have enough control and power to quash or simply buyout future competitors that would usurp them.
There is no system where people vote with their wallets and we can shift control by way of consumer revenue alone. That dream died some 100+ years ago when companies grew large enough to overthrow governments (Chiquita Banana), shape societies (Walmart & McDonald's) and build monopolies so resilient, they will control us into the next millennium (Google).
If you're all banking on the freedom of economy and capitalism self correcting, man is that a long wait for a train that won't come.