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Seems a native desktop app would be ideal... privacy-concious consumers might be hesitant to use Chrome.
by DKnoll 11y ago
Seems a native desktop app would be ideal... privacy-concious consumers might be hesitant to use Chrome.
- rahiel 11y agoThere's at least some work being done for firefox support: https://github.com/WhisperSystems/Signal-Desktop/pull/574 https://github.com/WhisperSystems/Signal-Desktop/pull/574.
- nachtigall 11y agoDoes anybody know why this doesn't get merged? The Firefox related PRs are from january.
- anexprogrammer 11y agoCame to say just that. Was very disappointed it was Chrome app only.
- DKnoll 11y agoI'm disappointed, but only a little bit. Moxie has already given me secure communications and free text, media and voice messaging the world over so I can't complain too much.
- anexprogrammer 11y agoOh very much so. What's been done with textsecure/signal is amazing. I'm far more held back by not being able to get friends to switch from just chatting with Facebook app / Kik / Whatsapp etc than it being a browser app. I know I'm the outlier here. :)
- emdd 11y agoOn the bright side, it would work on a ChromeBook.
- j1vms 11y agoI agree. Last time I looked at why they were designing it be Chrome-only, it appeared to be due to a reliance on Google Cloud Messaging (GCM, [1]). This could be due to one or both of the following factors: a) they wanted to re-use as easily as possible their existing back-end infrastructure which already uses GCM for the Android app. b) they are using GCM to ensure that their desktops users are also "screened" by Google's existing authentication/security infrastructure - which ties a user down to a phone number among other things. [1] https://developers.google.com/cloud-messaging/ https://developers.google.com/cloud-messaging/ Edit: clarity, typos
- moxie 11y agoWe've never used GCM in conjunction with the desktop app, so I'm not sure where you were looking. Writing and maintaining three different fully native apps for Windows, OSX, and Linux is a non-starter for most organizations these days, but it's particularly true for a small open source project like us. We developed it as a chrome packaged app because it provides the same experience as a native app (appears fully stand alone, integrates with your native OS launcher, etc), and because that's where the people are in the world we live in today. Eventually we might consider wrapping it in electron or equivalent, but that's just a question of packaging.
- DeepYogurt 11y agoAny chance of doing a website interface ala web.skype.com? If so please please support voice on linux. If not keep fighting the good fight.
- darklajid 11y agoPicking up on the maintenance burden here: Is there library support (or documentation) for the underlying stuff? Say, is there a way to go to your Github page [1] and grab a project that allows me to a) build a client (I think that's possible) and b) link clients just like the browser? Could I create the world's ugliest native client, connecting to the Signal network using my (phone's .. hrm..) identity? Is that a scenario you support (in general, not with office hours..) or would consider if it isn't possible today? 1: https://github.com/WhisperSystems/ https://github.com/WhisperSystems/
- etiam 11y agoI'll be waiting eagerly for those native desktop clients too (especially something also including desktop voice communication), but this looks promising enough that maybe I can seriously start pulling people to Signal for things like coordination of groups, which as things stand often happens in Facebook or things almost as revolting. So I think this is a big thing. Haven't tested it yet and probably won't get time to today, but I'm really excited to see if it lives up to expectations.
- moxie 11y agoWorks perfectly with Chromium if you'd like a fully open source alternative.
- DKnoll 11y agoThat's a good alternative... didn't even consider Chromium. Thanks for chiming in.
- swah 11y agoWhats your browser BTW?
- DKnoll 11y agoFirefox currently.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- goda90 11y agoOr a web version like Telegram has. That way it can be used on any desktop with any browser.
- DeepYogurt 11y agoPlus one for a desktop client. I do get the idea of a chrome app (firefox would be better imo) though as it gives you windows/mac/linux coverage in one shot.
- mintplant 11y agoWhen it was at an earlier stage of development, I tried out porting the Chome App over to NW.js (formerly node-webkit). It was easy enough and the result worked fine. I'll have to see if this is still the case.
- emdd 11y agoPlease do!