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We'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

by moxie 11y ago

We'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 ago
Any 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 ago
Picking 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/
- qznc 11y ago
  You can get the chrome client from Github. That enabled one to circumvent the private beta until this announcement. There are no proprietary parts in the app store version. Thus you should be able to make a native client just as well.
lawnchair_larry 11y ago
Please don't go electron, ugh. Any reason you didn't just go with Java? Java isn't my favorite, but shipping "apps" as entire web browsers under some handwaving is a dependency mess and massive bloatware. Too late now of course, but curious if there is some big advantage over the more obvious options that I'm not appreciating.
- joshka 11y ago
  Hey, can you add some detail on why you don't like electron?
  - pritambaral 11y ago
    Not parent, just my own negative views on electron: 1. Massive download for a simple app. 37M is a lot of data. 2. Massive download for every simple app. It would go a long way if every electron app didn't have pull in a full 37M, and could share a set of common libraries. n*37M is a lot of data, and this is one strong reason I like this Signal Desktop release. 3. Battery unfriendliness. Even when idle, every Electron app does a lot under the hood that isn't even related to the app itself. This is the cruft of having a full web browser and an advanced JS VM, but it is a cruft regardless, and it is very disheartening when reduces a ten hour battery life to six hours.
    - joshka 11y ago
      Cool, that sounds like some legit concerns to me. It's a shame that we can't install a shared lib for electron, but then perhaps thats the browser...
    - fulafel 11y ago
      A lot of runtimes are really big these days. Qt, Python, Mono are all big. Of course Java is bigger than most and comes with adware to boot.
      - cm3 11y ago
        Java comes with adware on the platform with the worst java installer. It's slow to install and forces you to actively deselect adware, but there's a Windows tool that can do that for you and there are package managers and app setup bundles. Installing Java on Linux and FreeBSD is very simple and fast. Qt these days needs at minimum 30MB for a simple window and that's a huge overhead for basically a hello-qt app. But Qt isn't as bloated as carrying around another browser.
jsnar 11y ago
NW.js can run any Chrome Apps directly: http://nwjs.io http://nwjs.io
gkoz 11y ago
> We developed it as a chrome packaged app because it provides the same experience as a native app. A typical native IM app can add an icon to the system tray, allows opening each conversation in a separate window and supports flashing said windows.
newman314 11y ago
Is it possible to do multiple mobile device yet? Eg. iPad and iPhone?
zx2c4 11y ago
> Writing and maintaining three different fully native apps for Windows, OSX, and Linux is a non-starter for most organizations these days Do consider writing it in Qt 5.

by moxie 11y ago

DeepYogurt 11y ago

Any 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 ago

Picking 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/

qznc 11y ago
You can get the chrome client from Github. That enabled one to circumvent the private beta until this announcement. There are no proprietary parts in the app store version. Thus you should be able to make a native client just as well.

lawnchair_larry 11y ago

Please don't go electron, ugh. Any reason you didn't just go with Java? Java isn't my favorite, but shipping "apps" as entire web browsers under some handwaving is a dependency mess and massive bloatware. Too late now of course, but curious if there is some big advantage over the more obvious options that I'm not appreciating.

joshka 11y ago
Hey, can you add some detail on why you don't like electron?
- pritambaral 11y ago
  Not parent, just my own negative views on electron: 1. Massive download for a simple app. 37M is a lot of data. 2. Massive download for every simple app. It would go a long way if every electron app didn't have pull in a full 37M, and could share a set of common libraries. n*37M is a lot of data, and this is one strong reason I like this Signal Desktop release. 3. Battery unfriendliness. Even when idle, every Electron app does a lot under the hood that isn't even related to the app itself. This is the cruft of having a full web browser and an advanced JS VM, but it is a cruft regardless, and it is very disheartening when reduces a ten hour battery life to six hours.
  - joshka 11y ago
    Cool, that sounds like some legit concerns to me. It's a shame that we can't install a shared lib for electron, but then perhaps thats the browser...
  - fulafel 11y ago
    A lot of runtimes are really big these days. Qt, Python, Mono are all big. Of course Java is bigger than most and comes with adware to boot.
    - cm3 11y ago
      Java comes with adware on the platform with the worst java installer. It's slow to install and forces you to actively deselect adware, but there's a Windows tool that can do that for you and there are package managers and app setup bundles. Installing Java on Linux and FreeBSD is very simple and fast. Qt these days needs at minimum 30MB for a simple window and that's a huge overhead for basically a hello-qt app. But Qt isn't as bloated as carrying around another browser.

jsnar 11y ago

NW.js can run any Chrome Apps directly: http://nwjs.io http://nwjs.io

gkoz 11y ago

> We developed it as a chrome packaged app because it provides the same experience as a native app. A typical native IM app can add an icon to the system tray, allows opening each conversation in a separate window and supports flashing said windows.

newman314 11y ago

Is it possible to do multiple mobile device yet? Eg. iPad and iPhone?

zx2c4 11y ago

> Writing and maintaining three different fully native apps for Windows, OSX, and Linux is a non-starter for most organizations these days Do consider writing it in Qt 5.