Telegram chat program - and so much more
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They have a Chrome app also. I installed it in Linux on my chromebook, and then my wife pointed out she just installed the chrome app.
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@johnhooks said:
They have a Chrome app also. I installed it in Linux on my chromebook, and then my wife pointed out she just installed the chrome app.
Yeah, that's important. Without a ChromeApp, it would be pretty weak.
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The problem is, the people I want to talk to are either on skype or hangouts or facebook messenger.
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Maybe I'll have to convert people to the light side. It looks really good.
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@Breffni-Potter said:
The problem is, the people I want to talk to are either on skype or hangouts or facebook messenger.
And some do not have phone numbers, making this difficult. This doesn't allow for anonymous accounts, which a lot of people use.
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The one thing I do not like is that it is very disorganized. For a company to use it, it would be cumbersome. There isn't any central user management. I don't like things tied to phone numbers. Device-centricity is very 1980s. It's going after WhatsApp and SMS replacement, which is good, but those things are inherently bad. So it's filling a niche that I don't feel needs filled.
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If it could be used with email addresses, that would work nicely.
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@Breffni-Potter said:
If it could be used with email addresses, that would work nicely.
Could be. That would be nice.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Breffni-Potter said:
The problem is, the people I want to talk to are either on skype or hangouts or facebook messenger.
And some do not have phone numbers, making this difficult. This doesn't allow for anonymous accounts, which a lot of people use.
yeah this is a major draw back at the moment.
Though the phone devices (at least the mobile apps) are the only ones where you can have secure chats. -
it's not actually tied to a device - you just have to use a phone number to get thing started.
If you don't have a SMS enabled phone number, it will call you with the access code so you can register.
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@Dashrender said:
it's not actually tied to a device - you just have to use a phone number to get thing started.
That's tied to a device. If I have no phone, let me know how I get started. If you don't have a means of doing it without a phone number, it's 100% tied to a device. And does someone who gets my phone number down the road get access to my identity?
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Phone numbers are not security. Phone numbers as identity is like social security numbers for identity. They weren't built to be ID fields and using something that doesn't ID someone to ID them is... reckless.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
it's not actually tied to a device - you just have to use a phone number to get thing started.
That's tied to a device. If I have no phone, let me know how I get started. If you don't have a means of doing it without a phone number, it's 100% tied to a device. And does someone who gets my phone number down the road get access to my identity?
That's a pretty good question... I agree they need a different logon/authentication system.
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@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
it's not actually tied to a device - you just have to use a phone number to get thing started.
That's tied to a device. If I have no phone, let me know how I get started. If you don't have a means of doing it without a phone number, it's 100% tied to a device. And does someone who gets my phone number down the road get access to my identity?
That's a pretty good question... I agree they need a different logon/authentication system.
Problem is is that they are just going after the WhatsApp / SMS market. Not the high end IM market. Not sure why they didn't just do both.
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For those MLers lucky enough to have phones that accept SMS, we have a MangoLassi group on Telegram now.
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@scottalanmiller said:
For those MLers lucky enough to have phones that accept SMS, we have a MangoLassi group on Telegram now.
You don't have to accept SMS - they will call a phone number you provide - hell that could be a phone booth - though that brings about your security with regards to that number though.
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@Dashrender said:
You don't have to accept SMS - they will call a phone number you provide - hell that could be a phone booth - though that brings about your security with regards to that number though.
What if someone already used that phone booth?
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
You don't have to accept SMS - they will call a phone number you provide - hell that could be a phone booth - though that brings about your security with regards to that number though.
What if someone already used that phone booth?
that was my point of your previous point.
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@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
You don't have to accept SMS - they will call a phone number you provide - hell that could be a phone booth - though that brings about your security with regards to that number though.
What if someone already used that phone booth?
that was my point of your previous point.
Well there are two points. One is security, the other is that it wouldn't work. In the one case I might break into your communications by getting access to the phone number. The other is that I might not be allowed an account because the number was already used.
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Which makes me wonder - what happens when kids today get cell phones for the first time. The phone numbers are not new, just recycled. How many things don't work for them and/or give them access to things they might be surprised to find because the security is randomly assigned to devices?
A lot of the world uses "throwaway" devices. One time numbers, pay ahead phones, etc. This security model is just ridiculous in that world.
And being from a poor region of NY, I know lots and lots of people too poor to maintain cell contracts and they lose their phone numbers. All of these systems become useless in that world.
