9 ms·

Telegram is getting so many cool features that I really wonder how long can it sustain being ad-free and user-centric.

by yewenjie 5y ago

dt3ft 5y ago
As long as the Russian government is able to keep funding it? :)
- jhabdas 5y ago
  Be nice if Americans could make something this good again. Have you seen WhatsApp lately? It's a pure travesty.
  - madeofpalk 5y ago
    Is it? Granted, I've only been using it for three years but... its hasn't really changed that whole time? It's fine?
  - reidjs 5y ago
    I like whatsapp a lot, personally. The stickers aren't as good as Telegram, though.
  - rvz 5y ago
    They already have and it is called Quill. [0] Works on web, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android and already looks promising to be the diamond standard of chat software and compete against the alternatives. Impressive piece of extremely high quality software so rare in this software industry. [0] https://quill.chat https://quill.chat
    - darkteflon 5y ago
      Holy s*t this looks amazing. Our (multi-disciplinary) team has been struggling with Zulip, which adopts the threaded messaging paradigm we need, but has a face only an engineer could love. This looks like it could be a drop-in replacement without the UX quirks. Thanks for the rec.
- anderber 5y ago
  I believe the owner/founder was kicked out of Russia. It was also banned in Russia for a while, at least they tried banning it.
- rvz 5y ago
  Any strong evidence of this? I mean actual links or investigations proving that? Or are you deliberately spreading unsubstantiated claims?
  - dt3ft 5y ago
    Strong evidence? Good luck with that. However, if a service costs millions per month to even exist and yet it is free to use, something does not add up. Or do you honestly believe that there is such thing as “free lunch”?
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
- ClumsyPilot 5y ago
  Can you please at least read the first paragraph of wikipedia before making allegations? Russian government hates telegram with a passion
  - dt3ft 5y ago
    Telegram is free. Who pays for it and why?
traspler 5y ago
It has already been announced that they will add ads to Telegram but only to public groups/channels over a certain amount of users. Everything else will stay ad free. See: https://t.me/durov/142 https://t.me/durov/142
freewizard 5y ago
They have 1 billion dollar[1], and working on ads[2] [1] https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN2BF0UP https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN2BF0UP [2] https://t.me/durov/142 https://t.me/durov/142
rvz 5y ago
Exactly. It recently got a feature that totally obliterates Clubhouse out of the Pacific ocean. At this point Telegram is unrivalled and already has almost everything that WhatApp has, except for E2EE turned on by default.
- dheera 5y ago
  I feel like Clubhouse looks a lot more polished as an app though. Telegram feels like a CS 101 "hello world" messenger app demo. Yeah I know it has more features than that, but it looks like it has no features. When you go into Clubhouse you know you're in Clubhouse. They don't need to write "Clubhouse" at the top of the app. There are no generic buttons such as hamburger buttons. It's obvious which account you're logged into just by looking at the icon at the top right. Almost every use has a profile pic. There is attention to negative space and typography.
  - Uupis 5y ago
    I've never used Clubhouse, but on iOS and macOS Telegram looks and feels very native.. but better. Snappier, faster, more responsive, yet still looks correct, and works as I expect native apps to work.
    - dheera 5y ago
      The thing is though, apps that look native often look like they were made by beginners. The native look on both iOS and Android is also starting to look dated in terms of graphic design. Most popular apps don't use native design but rather artistically always a step ahead of native. Think of e.g. the Airbnb, Uber, Slack, Discord, Instagram apps. If Instagram or Airbnb used native iOS/Android design they'd lose users pretty quickly IMO.
      - Uupis 5y ago
        Of all those, I have tried Discord and Slack, and I had a really, really horrible time. Neither are things I intend to use of my own volition, and am inclined to argue against using if I have a say. Drag and drop, text inputs, selections, UI elements, keyboard shortcuts, state preservation – none of those worked as they should. I would accept a divergence for a legitimate improvement, but it's just system-wide basic functionality missing. All of that works correctly in Telegram. There is great value in adhering to the system conventions, design, and using native elements – it's fairly clear what is supposed to be what, a good chunk of the time, and there is minimal context switching as I use other native apps.

Telegram is getting so many cool features that I really wonder how long can it sustain being ad-free and user-centric.

dt3ft 5y ago

As long as the Russian government is able to keep funding it? :)

jhabdas 5y ago
Be nice if Americans could make something this good again. Have you seen WhatsApp lately? It's a pure travesty.
- madeofpalk 5y ago
  Is it? Granted, I've only been using it for three years but... its hasn't really changed that whole time? It's fine?
- reidjs 5y ago
  I like whatsapp a lot, personally. The stickers aren't as good as Telegram, though.
- rvz 5y ago
  They already have and it is called Quill. [0] Works on web, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android and already looks promising to be the diamond standard of chat software and compete against the alternatives. Impressive piece of extremely high quality software so rare in this software industry. [0] https://quill.chat https://quill.chat
  - darkteflon 5y ago
    Holy s*t this looks amazing. Our (multi-disciplinary) team has been struggling with Zulip, which adopts the threaded messaging paradigm we need, but has a face only an engineer could love. This looks like it could be a drop-in replacement without the UX quirks. Thanks for the rec.
anderber 5y ago
I believe the owner/founder was kicked out of Russia. It was also banned in Russia for a while, at least they tried banning it.
rvz 5y ago
Any strong evidence of this? I mean actual links or investigations proving that? Or are you deliberately spreading unsubstantiated claims?
- dt3ft 5y ago
  Strong evidence? Good luck with that. However, if a service costs millions per month to even exist and yet it is free to use, something does not add up. Or do you honestly believe that there is such thing as “free lunch”?
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
ClumsyPilot 5y ago
Can you please at least read the first paragraph of wikipedia before making allegations? Russian government hates telegram with a passion
- dt3ft 5y ago
  Telegram is free. Who pays for it and why?

traspler 5y ago

It has already been announced that they will add ads to Telegram but only to public groups/channels over a certain amount of users. Everything else will stay ad free. See: https://t.me/durov/142 https://t.me/durov/142

freewizard 5y ago

They have 1 billion dollar[1], and working on ads[2] [1] https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN2BF0UP https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN2BF0UP [2] https://t.me/durov/142 https://t.me/durov/142

rvz 5y ago

Exactly. It recently got a feature that totally obliterates Clubhouse out of the Pacific ocean. At this point Telegram is unrivalled and already has almost everything that WhatApp has, except for E2EE turned on by default.

dheera 5y ago
I feel like Clubhouse looks a lot more polished as an app though. Telegram feels like a CS 101 "hello world" messenger app demo. Yeah I know it has more features than that, but it looks like it has no features. When you go into Clubhouse you know you're in Clubhouse. They don't need to write "Clubhouse" at the top of the app. There are no generic buttons such as hamburger buttons. It's obvious which account you're logged into just by looking at the icon at the top right. Almost every use has a profile pic. There is attention to negative space and typography.
- Uupis 5y ago
  I've never used Clubhouse, but on iOS and macOS Telegram looks and feels very native.. but better. Snappier, faster, more responsive, yet still looks correct, and works as I expect native apps to work.
  - dheera 5y ago
    The thing is though, apps that look native often look like they were made by beginners. The native look on both iOS and Android is also starting to look dated in terms of graphic design. Most popular apps don't use native design but rather artistically always a step ahead of native. Think of e.g. the Airbnb, Uber, Slack, Discord, Instagram apps. If Instagram or Airbnb used native iOS/Android design they'd lose users pretty quickly IMO.
    - Uupis 5y ago
      Of all those, I have tried Discord and Slack, and I had a really, really horrible time. Neither are things I intend to use of my own volition, and am inclined to argue against using if I have a say. Drag and drop, text inputs, selections, UI elements, keyboard shortcuts, state preservation – none of those worked as they should. I would accept a divergence for a legitimate improvement, but it's just system-wide basic functionality missing. All of that works correctly in Telegram. There is great value in adhering to the system conventions, design, and using native elements – it's fairly clear what is supposed to be what, a good chunk of the time, and there is minimal context switching as I use other native apps.