Close, it's less about propriety software and more about centralisation of services. I definitely tend towards open-source but it's not a dealbreaker, I just do

Close, it's less about propriety software and more about centralisation of services. I definitely tend towards open-source but it's not a dealbreaker, I just don't want to live in a world where my life is completely tied to Google. As good as a lot of their apps are, I hate the idea of the "ecosystem" that these companies are building. I just want a messaging app that messages and doesn't imply a bunch of other services from another company. I'm aware that's easier said than done, I just hope the end-game of instant messaging isn't "Apple or Google?". To continue your comparison with mobile phones, you can have a SIM from any network and still communicate with people. I'm going to try GcmCore that's been posted in this thread, it sounds interesting. To be completely honest, it's not a die-hard opinion and will no doubt change a bit in the future. Technology is progressing and changing so fast, I don't want to go with the flow without questioning directions it's going in. I know this is a niche choice, I don't expect anybody to cater to it specifically, I'm just happier putting together smaller apps that do what I want instead of installing an entire ecosystem. Hope that all makes sense. EDIT: Just realised after pressing send that the difference in my mobile phone analogy is the customer obviously pays to use it, maybe I'd be happier with paying for the network, I don't know. Doubt there's a market for that though!