As I recently said in another thread, an email sort of scenario is exactly what I'd like, or at least it would be many times better than what we currently have

As I recently said in another thread, an email sort of scenario is exactly what I'd like, or at least it would be many times better than what we currently have for im systems. The most important thing to me (and I suspect many other people in favor of decentralization/federation) is the ability to host my own service. I couldn't care less if 90% of email users are on gmail as long as I can run own email server or pay someone else to run one for me while still communicating with everyone. I'm sure some people would disagree with my priorities above but for my experience as a user, that is what makes the most difference to me - not being boxed into what someone else thinks my client should look/act like or being locked into their server. Naturally I think more decentralization is better, but that's more a philosophical preference whereas wanting to run my own server or pick my own client is more about usability and control.