4 ms·

Well, why not massively fund Thunderbird with a focus on usability and end-to-end encryption then? :-( Or maybe invest in Signal to they can finally start to fi

by mynewtb 11y ago

Well, why not massively fund Thunderbird with a focus on usability and end-to-end encryption then? :-( Or maybe invest in Signal to they can finally start to fix and improve at a remotely competitive pace?

matwood 11y ago
Thunderbird works pretty well with S/MIME to encrypt/decrypt emails. It does not work as well as Mail.app on iOS/OSX, but it works.
- dijit 11y ago
  it's A) Not transparent and B) No longer supported by mozilla.[0] [0] - http://www.zdnet.com/article/mozilla-scraps-thunderbird-development-email-client-not-a-priority-anymore/# http://www.zdnet.com/article/mozilla-scraps-thunderbird-deve...!
  - hackuser 11y ago
    Why isn't it transparent? Isn't the code open source?
    - dijit 11y ago
      Not transparent to the user. Good security is one you don't have to have a PhD to configure. How much encryption is in iMessage? (Lots) how much did you do to configure it (none) Transparent encryption (or, encryption for everyone even my mother) is the best way for it to be effective. So when I say transparent. I mean it should not be obvious to the end user and that user should not have to spend significant time configuring it.
      - newjersey 11y ago
        At the end of the day, we need a way to handle key management for asymmetric encryption like pgp. How do we allow people to share their private keys across multiple devices?
newman314 11y ago
Your comment about Signal threw off some thoughts :) I've said before that I think Signal's UX is not great esp compared with other messaging apps. The following just came to me so I'm going to digress for a bit into stream of consciousness. * Signal allows for calling now so why not require a first call to verify the other party. I would think people are pretty good at recognizing voices. * Or send an image and video call to verify? Still looking for a Signal+Ricochet+Burner type app...
- harry8 11y ago
  I find the signal user interface just great. No really, it's fine. Just use it and recommend it to your friends and contacts. Full disclosure, I have no association whatsoever with signal, it's just good.
  - newman314 11y ago
    For example, I hate how the contacts list works. It doesn't show all my contacts, just some. Took me forever to figure out the ones in bold actually have Signal installed. Also, not intuitive that clicking on the name goes to text interface and the phone symbol calls. Contrast this with the standard Contacts interface. Phone, msg etc. are clearly laid out. Signal's UX is also confusing with the id being communicated with. For example, if there are multiple numbers, hard to tell which number you are messaging. These are all little quirks that add up to make it feel much clunkier than other interfaces.

by mynewtb 11y ago

matwood 11y ago

Thunderbird works pretty well with S/MIME to encrypt/decrypt emails. It does not work as well as Mail.app on iOS/OSX, but it works.

dijit 11y ago
it's A) Not transparent and B) No longer supported by mozilla.[0] [0] - http://www.zdnet.com/article/mozilla-scraps-thunderbird-development-email-client-not-a-priority-anymore/# http://www.zdnet.com/article/mozilla-scraps-thunderbird-deve...!
- hackuser 11y ago
  Why isn't it transparent? Isn't the code open source?
  - dijit 11y ago
    Not transparent to the user. Good security is one you don't have to have a PhD to configure. How much encryption is in iMessage? (Lots) how much did you do to configure it (none) Transparent encryption (or, encryption for everyone even my mother) is the best way for it to be effective. So when I say transparent. I mean it should not be obvious to the end user and that user should not have to spend significant time configuring it.
    - newjersey 11y ago
      At the end of the day, we need a way to handle key management for asymmetric encryption like pgp. How do we allow people to share their private keys across multiple devices?

newman314 11y ago

Your comment about Signal threw off some thoughts :) I've said before that I think Signal's UX is not great esp compared with other messaging apps. The following just came to me so I'm going to digress for a bit into stream of consciousness. * Signal allows for calling now so why not require a first call to verify the other party. I would think people are pretty good at recognizing voices. * Or send an image and video call to verify? Still looking for a Signal+Ricochet+Burner type app...

harry8 11y ago
I find the signal user interface just great. No really, it's fine. Just use it and recommend it to your friends and contacts. Full disclosure, I have no association whatsoever with signal, it's just good.
- newman314 11y ago
  For example, I hate how the contacts list works. It doesn't show all my contacts, just some. Took me forever to figure out the ones in bold actually have Signal installed. Also, not intuitive that clicking on the name goes to text interface and the phone symbol calls. Contrast this with the standard Contacts interface. Phone, msg etc. are clearly laid out. Signal's UX is also confusing with the id being communicated with. For example, if there are multiple numbers, hard to tell which number you are messaging. These are all little quirks that add up to make it feel much clunkier than other interfaces.