14 ms·

Not sure how common this is, but everyone at both school and work these days shifts seamlessly from mobile to dekstop and back. This has been one of the main r

Not sure how common this is, but everyone at both school and work these days shifts seamlessly from mobile to dekstop and back. This has been one of the main reasons we tend to use WhatsApp and Slack, even for corporate communications as silly as that sounds -- because you can type long messages on it on the keyboard/desktop but also have access to it on the go. What I don't understand is -- given Allo had a blank slate, why did they limit it to just mobile? They cover two major silos (Android + iOS), (one reason we dont use iMsg) but why not the third silo (non-mobile)?

Bedon292 10y ago
Definitely doesn't make sense. I use hangouts constantly. It is my default app for SMS and chatting with family. I like having one consistent thread between different desktop devices, as well as mobile. Yes Slack has replaced it for work, but that's no good for family, at least not mine. Until this has desktop support there is no reason for me to buy in. Why not have (one of) the most important feature of hangouts (and all of the other competitors) on these new apps?
- scholia 10y ago
  Google wants to own the whole IT stack from servers and software services to devices. It supported the entrenched alternatives (Windows and Macs) when it had no alternative, but now it won't, unless it really has to. In Google's thinking, the whole IT stack is Google cloud-based, and in the long term, people having "different desktop devices" isn't the right way to go. Yes, this is overstatement for sarcastic effect, but the trend seems to be real....
- MrPatan 10y ago
  For SMSs too? On my Android, the new(ish?) message app ("Messenger") now wanted control of SMSs back from hangouts. Another silly reversal, and another silly messaging app from Google. Fourth time lucky? On that topic, when is the inbox app replacing the gmail app? Maybe never and that's good, given that sometimes I cannot download attachments with the inbox app that I can happily download from the old gmail app right away.
  - Pxtl 10y ago
    I still can't figure out how to find archived messages in Inbox.
    - jpadkins 10y ago
      search?
      - Pxtl 10y ago
        Offline, I mean. As in "I read an email just before going offline, now can I re-open that email".
  - fluidcruft 10y ago
    Has Inbox gained the ability to have recipient lists?
- Pxtl 10y ago
  > I like having one consistent thread between different desktop devices, as well as mobile. Too bad they killed SMS history combining.
nilkn 10y ago
I totally agree and am so glad to see someone else here to feels similarly to me. There are already good text messaging apps. For a general messaging solution, I don't want something tied down exclusively to my phone. If the emphasis is on photo sharing (e.g., Snapchat), then that can still make sense. But if the emphasis is just on text, then I want to be able to use a desktop or web app whenever I'm using a laptop or desktop. Not being able to do so is honestly a dealbreaker for me.
- johnhenry 10y ago
  I agree wholeheartedly. After installing on my Android, I almost immediately tried to install on my iPod, only to have my Android instance immediately sign out.
djhworld 10y ago
I use WhatsApp Web quite a lot, it's not perfect, but it's a nice interface to use when you have access to a desktop/laptop and can continue your conversations there.
- guessmyname 10y ago
  But forget to touch your phone for a couple of minutes and the web session will automatically disconnect because the phone went to standby mode, which apparently interferes with the sync between the mobile application and the web browser session. My experience is that I can only rely on the web for a short conversation until my phone goes to sleep.
  - ifcho 10y ago
    This obviously depends on the phone OS, but in Android 7.0 you can add an exception for whatsapp from the deep sleep the phone enters.
  - reitanqild 10y ago
    Used to be my main reason to promote Telegram. Of course now that Facebook owns Whatsapp and has decided (again) to show users what fools they where and who is the boss, all the more reasons to promote Telegram, matrix, irc etc ;-)
    - JensRex 10y ago
      This is why I use Telegram, and why I don't use Signal. I love the desktop client. My hands are big, and I've always hated writing on phones. On my computer I can blast away messages on my glorious mechanical keyboard.
      - Spakman 10y ago
        It's not without a few (non-dealbreaker, at least for me) bugs but Signal-desktop works well.
codelitt 10y ago
People keep saying mobile is the future, however, I just can't imagine desktops leaving us anytime soon. If I'm on the go, then sure I want it on my mobile device, but 99% of the time when I'm at work I want quick and easy access either through an app or the browser on my desktop. If a service I use doesn't have a desktop app, then it likely won't receive any of my attention until I'm out of the office.
- baldfat 10y ago
  Desktop will always be around. I just think we are moving back to the 80s and 90s where only the "Super Tech" person owned them and the rest just didn't need them. Mobile has replaced a lot of the way people spend time but for my interest and needs desktop is king. I don't watch movies on my desktop (YouTube yes) but I also don't do video editing and data science on a phone.
  - unprepare 10y ago
    I think PC gaming has been growing in popularity, i dont see that being overtaken by mobile anytime soon, as i dont see mobile being competitive with desktop GPUs anytime soon (let alone RAM, cpu, cooling, power availability, etc) Also, with the growing trend of 'cord-cutting' i think more and more people are hooking their laptops up to their TVs and watching netflix and youtube that way. Though the trend in that space seems to be pointing more toward curated ecosystems like roku, apple tv, etc. But i think eventually for pretty much anything else the hardware and software will reach a point where you can dock your phone into some cradle and that will be your desktop environment also - this has been tried and failed many times, but its usually because the performance just isnt there to be competitive with real computers.
    - subliminalpanda 10y ago
      >Also, with the growing trend of 'cord-cutting' i think more and more people are hooking their laptops up to their TVs and watching netflix and youtube that way. Though the trend in that space seems to be pointing more toward curated ecosystems like roku, apple tv, etc. I have been doing this for some time now. My laptop hooked up to my TV serves me for gaming (helps that a lot of PC games support controllers now), consuming content and music all without being crippled by consumer hardware restrictions.
awesomerobot 10y ago
Exactly why I wish they'd just focus on Hangouts. I might actually use it on desktop at work more than on mobile, but I like having the flexibility.
awesomerobot 10y ago
Exactly why I wish they'd just focus on Hangouts. I might actually use it on desktop at work more than on mobile, but I like having the flexibility.
soylentcola 10y ago
This is exactly why so many of my friends and family use Hangouts née Gmail Chat. We can use it in the browser at work just by keeping Gmail open in a tab. No IM applications to install or concerns about whether we're running Windows, OSX, or whatever. Then the conversations follow when you log off whatever desktop or laptop you're on via the mobile app. About half of us use Android so it either comes standard or you can easily install. The other half uses iOS and unlike iMessage/iChat/Facetime, you can easily use it on iOS as well as Android. I installed Allo today but so far I haven't had a chance to try it out. Frankly it gives me the same mild annoyance I felt when Facebook broke messaging out into a separate app (and when I just said screw it and uninstalled both). As much as I use and generally like Google stuff, they drive me nuts with their approach a lot of the time. When GChat/Talk became Hangouts and started integrating Voice and SMS/MMS, it seemed like a move in the right direction, both for them as a company (wanting to be your one stop shop for messaging) and for me as a user (less apps, more seamless integration). Then SMS/MMS was split back off into Messaging, Voice...I haven't really heard much about Voice in a while which is weird because it was one of those things that seemed so promising at one point. And now Duo alongside the pretty great video chat already in Hangouts and Allo alongside Messaging alongside Hangouts. I get the idea of maybe starting a secondary platform/service/app to see what sticks and what doesn't. At worst they can integrate the good bits into their main product (see: Inbox). But their messaging strategy seems more like publishing Inbox with the intention of just ditching plain old Gmail.
- bmaupin 10y ago
  > We can use it in the browser at work just by keeping Gmail open in a tab. There's also https://hangouts.google.com/ https://hangouts.google.com/
  - GFischer 10y ago
    Didn't know about that ! Interesting.
  - TuringNYC 10y ago
    Yes, good point -- forgot to mention that. That is a 3rd widely-available option across all three silos (Android/iOS/Desktop).
pkulak 10y ago
I have to imagine that's on the radar. They were possibly under time pressure. The problem is, I can't use this until then, and by then there will be no hype left.
Navarr 10y ago
I'm willing to bet that Allo (app) is their MVP. Hopefully we'll see chat sync, SMS support, Google Voice support, Desktop App in the pipeline.
- deong 10y ago
  Sure, but wouldn't you have also made that bet about Hangouts a few years ago? And then about Messenger? And then about Hangouts (again)? Google always looks like they have a plan, provided you ignore everything they've done prior to about 10 minutes ago.
  - Navarr 10y ago
    Hangouts came with SMS and Desktop, iirc - as it was supposed to be an immediately migration from Google Talk. It then later got Google Voice, later got MMS, continued to "improve" (feature wise - but was terrible) Messenger - if you're referring to the Android app - was just an SMS app from the start and nobody expected anything more from it
kyrra 10y ago
You don't need a Google account to use Allo. Being phone-number driven for setup and how you are identified within the App is really the key to answering your questions. From articles/reviews of the app from official publications, Google is saying a Desktop app is in the works, it's just not ready yet.
- mattmcknight 10y ago
  right, so just add phone number accounts to hangouts.
  - TheBeardKing 10y ago
    It really should've been that simple. Then take from allo incognito conversations, stickers, and smart replies, and you just have a nice hangouts update.
- fps 10y ago
  I hate this sudden desire to have every account keyed on a phone number. I know 3 phone numbers - mine, my wife's and my parent's. Oh, I still remember my friends from elementary school's parent's phone numbers too, but honestly, I haven't had to think about learning a new phone number in over a decade. I'm honestly about an inch away from shutting off my own phone number, which has been a google voice number for 6 years now, because the only calls I ever get on it are spammers asking me about my electric bill. People who I care about email me, or use google talk/Hangouts. I know all my friend's email addresses. Email addresses are customizable and easy to remember. We don't need to keep working around a 100 year old call routing problem by memorizing area codes and routing exchanges. Hangouts, or Google Talk used to support people signing up with whatever their email address was, and you could reach them by knowing their email address. Why am I being asked to think about 10 digit geographically segregated numbers again?!
asciihacker 10y ago
> one of the main reasons we tend to use WhatsApp and Slack, even for corporate communications as silly as that sounds -- because you can type long messages on it on the keyboard/desktop but also have access to it on the go. WhatsApp does not run on tablets... period.
- berns 10y ago
  You can use Whatsapp web in a tablet. I guess it isn't officially supported because you have to request the desktop version, but it works.
protomok 10y ago
+1 Once they add a Windows or Linux client I'll give Allo a try. To me it's a bit distracting to abruptly interrupt a coding session and pull out my phone. Lately I've been trying to minimize distractions and stay in a terminal or development IDE as much as possible. I mentally view distractions similar to latency when accessing memory, something like: Look up info in terminal or IDE - comments within code, man pages, etc. <===> register access Desktop applications - PDF, Powerpoint slides, IM, etc. <===> L1 cache hit Google something (often results in reading articles, HN!, etc.) <===> L2 cache hit Phone usage (apps, calls, etc.) <===> Memory access In person chat (prone to rants/complaining, tangents, etc.) <===> Disk access Meetings <===> Tape based storage :)
- falloutx 10y ago
  faved this.
  - teach 10y ago
    It's one of the social norms on HackerNews that "low-value" comments like "Love it! Thanks!" and "favorited" are discouraged. Although such comments are polite to the commenter, they add nothing but noise for all the other readers of the thread. Instead, it seems to be preferred that you simply upvote the comment instead of replying.
- ben174 10y ago
  It's for exactly this reason that I'm creating a terminal-based calorie tracker. Working on finishing up the curses-like client so i can quickly type bogg 120 # consumed 120 calories bogg -120 biking # exercised 120 calories while biking https://github.com/bo-gg/bogg-api https://github.com/bo-gg/bogg-api Once the command line portion is finished I plan to do a Show HN and hopefully people start using it.
- davyjones 10y ago
  Google something (often results in reading unrelated articles, "link dives", etc.) <=====> Cache miss (?)
kilroy123 10y ago
I agree completely. I use google voice and also like to send text messages from my computer. I'm sitting here all day long at work. I do not like reaching for my phone and typing long messages on there.
8ytecoder 10y ago
Google has been very noticeably anti-desktop for a while now. They sure bet the future would be mobile/chrome OS like devices or they hate desktop development. I love Google Music but there is no desktop client for it and without a desktop client integration with hardware keys or caching/downloading/syncing music like spotify or iTunes is impossible. It's the same story with Google Photos. I love it but they decided to shutdown picasa web albums and I don't think they'd ever build a desktop client. Google operates differently from the rest. It's not for people like us who use a desktop/laptop.
- themacguffinman 10y ago
  For Google, the web is the desktop. They have a Google Music desktop client: it's any standards compliant browser (yes, it has access to files and filesystem sync). And because it's the web, it supports Windows, Mac, or Linux.
  - tdkl 10y ago
    Of course, there aren't any ads to be served on the desktop, you could be shudder offline.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
digi_owl 10y ago
I liked it back when Facebook had a XMPP gateway for the messaging, as then i could set up Pidgin on my Linux desktop to keep in touch with the relatives. This is why open protocols exist, ffs...
soufron 10y ago
My thoughts exactly. Also, why did they do it? Don't we have enough messenging apps already?
newscracker 10y ago
For better experience across desktop and mobile, I use Telegram. It doesn't need a phone to be around after a one-time activation and also allows a passcode to be set to access messages on the desktop. I have also started using Wire for the same reason, and even better, since it offers end-to-end encryption by default.

Bedon292 10y ago

Definitely doesn't make sense. I use hangouts constantly. It is my default app for SMS and chatting with family. I like having one consistent thread between different desktop devices, as well as mobile. Yes Slack has replaced it for work, but that's no good for family, at least not mine. Until this has desktop support there is no reason for me to buy in. Why not have (one of) the most important feature of hangouts (and all of the other competitors) on these new apps?

scholia 10y ago
Google wants to own the whole IT stack from servers and software services to devices. It supported the entrenched alternatives (Windows and Macs) when it had no alternative, but now it won't, unless it really has to. In Google's thinking, the whole IT stack is Google cloud-based, and in the long term, people having "different desktop devices" isn't the right way to go. Yes, this is overstatement for sarcastic effect, but the trend seems to be real....
MrPatan 10y ago
For SMSs too? On my Android, the new(ish?) message app ("Messenger") now wanted control of SMSs back from hangouts. Another silly reversal, and another silly messaging app from Google. Fourth time lucky? On that topic, when is the inbox app replacing the gmail app? Maybe never and that's good, given that sometimes I cannot download attachments with the inbox app that I can happily download from the old gmail app right away.
- Pxtl 10y ago
  I still can't figure out how to find archived messages in Inbox.
  - jpadkins 10y ago
    search?
    - Pxtl 10y ago
      Offline, I mean. As in "I read an email just before going offline, now can I re-open that email".
- fluidcruft 10y ago
  Has Inbox gained the ability to have recipient lists?
Pxtl 10y ago
> I like having one consistent thread between different desktop devices, as well as mobile. Too bad they killed SMS history combining.

nilkn 10y ago

I totally agree and am so glad to see someone else here to feels similarly to me. There are already good text messaging apps. For a general messaging solution, I don't want something tied down exclusively to my phone. If the emphasis is on photo sharing (e.g., Snapchat), then that can still make sense. But if the emphasis is just on text, then I want to be able to use a desktop or web app whenever I'm using a laptop or desktop. Not being able to do so is honestly a dealbreaker for me.

johnhenry 10y ago
I agree wholeheartedly. After installing on my Android, I almost immediately tried to install on my iPod, only to have my Android instance immediately sign out.

djhworld 10y ago

I use WhatsApp Web quite a lot, it's not perfect, but it's a nice interface to use when you have access to a desktop/laptop and can continue your conversations there.

guessmyname 10y ago
But forget to touch your phone for a couple of minutes and the web session will automatically disconnect because the phone went to standby mode, which apparently interferes with the sync between the mobile application and the web browser session. My experience is that I can only rely on the web for a short conversation until my phone goes to sleep.
- ifcho 10y ago
  This obviously depends on the phone OS, but in Android 7.0 you can add an exception for whatsapp from the deep sleep the phone enters.
- reitanqild 10y ago
  Used to be my main reason to promote Telegram. Of course now that Facebook owns Whatsapp and has decided (again) to show users what fools they where and who is the boss, all the more reasons to promote Telegram, matrix, irc etc ;-)
  - JensRex 10y ago
    This is why I use Telegram, and why I don't use Signal. I love the desktop client. My hands are big, and I've always hated writing on phones. On my computer I can blast away messages on my glorious mechanical keyboard.
    - Spakman 10y ago
      It's not without a few (non-dealbreaker, at least for me) bugs but Signal-desktop works well.

codelitt 10y ago

People keep saying mobile is the future, however, I just can't imagine desktops leaving us anytime soon. If I'm on the go, then sure I want it on my mobile device, but 99% of the time when I'm at work I want quick and easy access either through an app or the browser on my desktop. If a service I use doesn't have a desktop app, then it likely won't receive any of my attention until I'm out of the office.

baldfat 10y ago
Desktop will always be around. I just think we are moving back to the 80s and 90s where only the "Super Tech" person owned them and the rest just didn't need them. Mobile has replaced a lot of the way people spend time but for my interest and needs desktop is king. I don't watch movies on my desktop (YouTube yes) but I also don't do video editing and data science on a phone.
- unprepare 10y ago
  I think PC gaming has been growing in popularity, i dont see that being overtaken by mobile anytime soon, as i dont see mobile being competitive with desktop GPUs anytime soon (let alone RAM, cpu, cooling, power availability, etc) Also, with the growing trend of 'cord-cutting' i think more and more people are hooking their laptops up to their TVs and watching netflix and youtube that way. Though the trend in that space seems to be pointing more toward curated ecosystems like roku, apple tv, etc. But i think eventually for pretty much anything else the hardware and software will reach a point where you can dock your phone into some cradle and that will be your desktop environment also - this has been tried and failed many times, but its usually because the performance just isnt there to be competitive with real computers.
  - subliminalpanda 10y ago
    >Also, with the growing trend of 'cord-cutting' i think more and more people are hooking their laptops up to their TVs and watching netflix and youtube that way. Though the trend in that space seems to be pointing more toward curated ecosystems like roku, apple tv, etc. I have been doing this for some time now. My laptop hooked up to my TV serves me for gaming (helps that a lot of PC games support controllers now), consuming content and music all without being crippled by consumer hardware restrictions.

awesomerobot 10y ago

Exactly why I wish they'd just focus on Hangouts. I might actually use it on desktop at work more than on mobile, but I like having the flexibility.

awesomerobot 10y ago

Exactly why I wish they'd just focus on Hangouts. I might actually use it on desktop at work more than on mobile, but I like having the flexibility.

soylentcola 10y ago

This is exactly why so many of my friends and family use Hangouts née Gmail Chat. We can use it in the browser at work just by keeping Gmail open in a tab. No IM applications to install or concerns about whether we're running Windows, OSX, or whatever. Then the conversations follow when you log off whatever desktop or laptop you're on via the mobile app. About half of us use Android so it either comes standard or you can easily install. The other half uses iOS and unlike iMessage/iChat/Facetime, you can easily use it on iOS as well as Android. I installed Allo today but so far I haven't had a chance to try it out. Frankly it gives me the same mild annoyance I felt when Facebook broke messaging out into a separate app (and when I just said screw it and uninstalled both). As much as I use and generally like Google stuff, they drive me nuts with their approach a lot of the time. When GChat/Talk became Hangouts and started integrating Voice and SMS/MMS, it seemed like a move in the right direction, both for them as a company (wanting to be your one stop shop for messaging) and for me as a user (less apps, more seamless integration). Then SMS/MMS was split back off into Messaging, Voice...I haven't really heard much about Voice in a while which is weird because it was one of those things that seemed so promising at one point. And now Duo alongside the pretty great video chat already in Hangouts and Allo alongside Messaging alongside Hangouts. I get the idea of maybe starting a secondary platform/service/app to see what sticks and what doesn't. At worst they can integrate the good bits into their main product (see: Inbox). But their messaging strategy seems more like publishing Inbox with the intention of just ditching plain old Gmail.

bmaupin 10y ago
> We can use it in the browser at work just by keeping Gmail open in a tab. There's also https://hangouts.google.com/ https://hangouts.google.com/
- GFischer 10y ago
  Didn't know about that ! Interesting.
- TuringNYC 10y ago
  Yes, good point -- forgot to mention that. That is a 3rd widely-available option across all three silos (Android/iOS/Desktop).

pkulak 10y ago

I have to imagine that's on the radar. They were possibly under time pressure. The problem is, I can't use this until then, and by then there will be no hype left.

Navarr 10y ago

I'm willing to bet that Allo (app) is their MVP. Hopefully we'll see chat sync, SMS support, Google Voice support, Desktop App in the pipeline.

deong 10y ago
Sure, but wouldn't you have also made that bet about Hangouts a few years ago? And then about Messenger? And then about Hangouts (again)? Google always looks like they have a plan, provided you ignore everything they've done prior to about 10 minutes ago.
- Navarr 10y ago
  Hangouts came with SMS and Desktop, iirc - as it was supposed to be an immediately migration from Google Talk. It then later got Google Voice, later got MMS, continued to "improve" (feature wise - but was terrible) Messenger - if you're referring to the Android app - was just an SMS app from the start and nobody expected anything more from it

kyrra 10y ago

You don't need a Google account to use Allo. Being phone-number driven for setup and how you are identified within the App is really the key to answering your questions. From articles/reviews of the app from official publications, Google is saying a Desktop app is in the works, it's just not ready yet.

mattmcknight 10y ago
right, so just add phone number accounts to hangouts.
- TheBeardKing 10y ago
  It really should've been that simple. Then take from allo incognito conversations, stickers, and smart replies, and you just have a nice hangouts update.
fps 10y ago
I hate this sudden desire to have every account keyed on a phone number. I know 3 phone numbers - mine, my wife's and my parent's. Oh, I still remember my friends from elementary school's parent's phone numbers too, but honestly, I haven't had to think about learning a new phone number in over a decade. I'm honestly about an inch away from shutting off my own phone number, which has been a google voice number for 6 years now, because the only calls I ever get on it are spammers asking me about my electric bill. People who I care about email me, or use google talk/Hangouts. I know all my friend's email addresses. Email addresses are customizable and easy to remember. We don't need to keep working around a 100 year old call routing problem by memorizing area codes and routing exchanges. Hangouts, or Google Talk used to support people signing up with whatever their email address was, and you could reach them by knowing their email address. Why am I being asked to think about 10 digit geographically segregated numbers again?!

asciihacker 10y ago

> one of the main reasons we tend to use WhatsApp and Slack, even for corporate communications as silly as that sounds -- because you can type long messages on it on the keyboard/desktop but also have access to it on the go. WhatsApp does not run on tablets... period.

berns 10y ago
You can use Whatsapp web in a tablet. I guess it isn't officially supported because you have to request the desktop version, but it works.

protomok 10y ago

+1 Once they add a Windows or Linux client I'll give Allo a try. To me it's a bit distracting to abruptly interrupt a coding session and pull out my phone. Lately I've been trying to minimize distractions and stay in a terminal or development IDE as much as possible. I mentally view distractions similar to latency when accessing memory, something like: Look up info in terminal or IDE - comments within code, man pages, etc. <===> register access Desktop applications - PDF, Powerpoint slides, IM, etc. <===> L1 cache hit Google something (often results in reading articles, HN!, etc.) <===> L2 cache hit Phone usage (apps, calls, etc.) <===> Memory access In person chat (prone to rants/complaining, tangents, etc.) <===> Disk access Meetings <===> Tape based storage :)

falloutx 10y ago
faved this.
- teach 10y ago
  It's one of the social norms on HackerNews that "low-value" comments like "Love it! Thanks!" and "favorited" are discouraged. Although such comments are polite to the commenter, they add nothing but noise for all the other readers of the thread. Instead, it seems to be preferred that you simply upvote the comment instead of replying.
ben174 10y ago
It's for exactly this reason that I'm creating a terminal-based calorie tracker. Working on finishing up the curses-like client so i can quickly type bogg 120 # consumed 120 calories bogg -120 biking # exercised 120 calories while biking https://github.com/bo-gg/bogg-api https://github.com/bo-gg/bogg-api Once the command line portion is finished I plan to do a Show HN and hopefully people start using it.
davyjones 10y ago
Google something (often results in reading unrelated articles, "link dives", etc.) <=====> Cache miss (?)

kilroy123 10y ago

I agree completely. I use google voice and also like to send text messages from my computer. I'm sitting here all day long at work. I do not like reaching for my phone and typing long messages on there.

8ytecoder 10y ago

Google has been very noticeably anti-desktop for a while now. They sure bet the future would be mobile/chrome OS like devices or they hate desktop development. I love Google Music but there is no desktop client for it and without a desktop client integration with hardware keys or caching/downloading/syncing music like spotify or iTunes is impossible. It's the same story with Google Photos. I love it but they decided to shutdown picasa web albums and I don't think they'd ever build a desktop client. Google operates differently from the rest. It's not for people like us who use a desktop/laptop.

themacguffinman 10y ago
For Google, the web is the desktop. They have a Google Music desktop client: it's any standards compliant browser (yes, it has access to files and filesystem sync). And because it's the web, it supports Windows, Mac, or Linux.
- tdkl 10y ago
  Of course, there aren't any ads to be served on the desktop, you could be shudder offline.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]

digi_owl 10y ago

I liked it back when Facebook had a XMPP gateway for the messaging, as then i could set up Pidgin on my Linux desktop to keep in touch with the relatives. This is why open protocols exist, ffs...

soufron 10y ago

My thoughts exactly. Also, why did they do it? Don't we have enough messenging apps already?

newscracker 10y ago

For better experience across desktop and mobile, I use Telegram. It doesn't need a phone to be around after a one-time activation and also allows a passcode to be set to access messages on the desktop. I have also started using Wire for the same reason, and even better, since it offers end-to-end encryption by default.