Mastodawn

Regularly, I use the following for near-realtime communications ("text messages”).

- SMS/RCS/iMessage (friends, family)
- Facebook Messenger (friends, family)
- What's App (friends)
- ActivityPub/Mastodon (friends)
- Matrix (friends, work)
- Discord (work)
- Mattermost (friends, locals)

I'm sure I'm missing some.

The fact that no one is allowed to make a single piece of software (for wide distribution) that talks on all of these systems is the kind of garbage @pluralistic often talks about.

@sean you can download Trillian, it will connect to things such as MSN and ICQ within the same app. Seems to be doing Foursquare, Facebook and Twitter too.

Look at what they took from us!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trillian_(software)

Trillian (software) - Wikipedia

Sean Coates 2d ago

@olivier Yep; I used Trillian and Adium (Pidgin) back before everything got so heavily siloed. Well, between the silo eras, I guess.

Remember when Facetime came out, and the way they made platform-specific communications palatable for anyone was by promising they'd make it cross-platform and then… just… didn’t?

I hope me-from-the-better-timeline is thriving.

@sean
I think beeper tried at one point. now I wonder what happened to them...
@pluralistic

Cory Doctorow 2d ago

@hobbs @sean Still kicking and kicking ass @grimmy

@pluralistic
yeah pidgin rules. I'm glad it's still around.
@sean @grimmy

@sean @pluralistic well, we used to have some when IRC/MSN were kings. Adium, Pidgin, Trillian and so on...

But closed platforms took over by offering slick interfaces, emojis and stickers.

For me, it began with Facebook Messenger replacing MSN, Slack replacing IRC and/or MSN, and so on.

We never learn, we are continually repeating the same cycle, the same mistakes

Matthew Weier O'Phinney 2d ago

@sean @pluralistic I remember back in the day (God but I hate saying that phrase!) using Pidgin for precisely this sort of messaging sprawl... And now most of the messaging apps are walled gardens incapable of integration.

Manchuck 2d ago

@mwop @sean @pluralistic do you WUPFH?

https://youtu.be/uRoCMde-Cm8?si=-QcLjY08QqaYXC6g

DO YOU WUPHF?

YouTube

Manchuck 2d ago

@mwop @sean @pluralistic also just got an idea for a Vonage demo. That will make my boss @dragonmantank happy

JamesB192 2d ago

@sean @pluralistic not libpurple.

A stopped clock never boils 2d ago

@sean @pluralistic No Signal!?

John Seekins 2d ago

@sean Matrix does have a number of integrations. I'm currently using it to connect to WhatsApp, Mattermost has a matrix integration (https://mattermost.com/marketplace/mattermost-matrix-connector/), and I believe there are other bridges for Discord/etc.
It's not a perfect solution, and is somewhat tech-heavy to get working well, but it's better than nothing?

Mattermost Matrix Connector

...Read More

Mattermost.com

Is it? I am not sure, that this is the big problem. Isn't it big tech which lock us in and wanted to keep us at their services. Big tech like Meta (facebook, whatsapp) oder risc capital raisers like discord? Is a open and easy to share internet possible which such players?
I doubt that. I would rather install 2 services like signal and mastodon to share my stuff than trust a single company driven solution. What do you think? @sean
Maybe we just differ in opinions what the bigger problem is but share similiar thoughts so I hope you do not see "bad vibes" from my point of view ;)

Andreas Neustifter 2d ago

@sean @pluralistic The two that you maybe could actually bridge (AcitvityPub and Matrix) are so far apart, regarding what they are for, it's most probably useless as well.

My wife must use Teams to communicate with her mother in a nursing home.

It's not actually working properly, and other things would (and did), which also frustrates the staff on the other end. They are not permitted to use things that actually work as intended.

Dave "Wear A Goddamn Mask" Cochran

@sean @pluralistic why, did something happen to Trillian.im?

@sean @pluralistic To make it even worse, sometimes one can’t even download the local favourite chat app because your App Store isn’t local, like Viber in the Philippines. I call it being daft in depth.

Nick Sloan 2d ago

@sean @pluralistic When I stopped using Android the list of Google-owned messaging apps was about this long.