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I disagree completely. There are so many IM/Messaging clients that have absolutely no connection to one another nowadays that it's absolutely terrible to try to
by mrjatx 13y ago
I disagree completely. There are so many IM/Messaging clients that have absolutely no connection to one another nowadays that it's absolutely terrible to try to find somebody on one. Sure, maybe all of your Programmer coworkers are on Gchat, but what about that guy/girl you met last week and are going on a date with? Are you going to ask them to download and install Kik? Sign up for a Google/AIM/Jabber account? What about that old friend you saw for the first time in a few years at a conference; you gonna do the same?
Texting is ubiquitous. I know that if you gave me your phone number that you can receive a text message. Whether it's ATT, Verrizon, Tmobile, Cricket, or some international carrier I know that I can communicate with you via a messaging tool (texting) without having to delve into whether or not you have a Kik/Viber/WhatsApp/Whatever account.
Obviously all of this is alleviated if we just pick up the phone and call one another, but I'm specifically talking about quick messaging options.
- jaredsohn 13y ago>I know that if you gave me your phone number that you can receive a text message. Unless it is a landline. :)
- viraptor 13y agoIn the UK if you send a text to a landline, the phone will ring and the message will be read to you. (via automatic voice of course) So yes, even a landline works in that case. (Although maybe it's just on BT lines. Not sure.)
- bane 13y agoOr just send them an email. It's effectively just as quick.
- mrjatx 13y agoI don't know your age, but I know very few people my age who use email for anything beyond professional correspondence. I don't want friends/girlfriends to email me if they need to communicate quickly. I can just see it now, "Hey Dave, wanna head to the W?" ... 8 hours later "Sorry, just got this, why didn't you text me?"
- soperj 13y agoI get all my emails on my phone. I can answer them just as easy as a text. I really don't see the difference and haven't for years now.
- mrjatx 13y agoYou're also on hackernews. You're probably a programmer of some sort. Quit assuming that everybody else is a technology forward as you. Most of society does not get their emails on their phone. Most of cell-phone carrying society can always receive a text.
- Jare 13y agoFWIW I'm the only person in my family that reads hacker news, and I'm also the only person in my family that does NOT receive personal email on my phone.
- mrjatx 13y agoYeah, people are different. Assuming everyone gets email on their phone vs text messaging which is pretty much ubiquitous is completely my point. I can cement my point even further. You don't get emails, your family does, but you all get text messages. Bam, that was easy.
- bane 13y agoActually, I went through and thought about it a bit. Most of the people I know that are my age or younger have actually turned off texting because it's almost entirely used for spam. It's pretty much a byproduct of a time that's quickly going by.
- bane 13y agoThese days, the only people I know who text are 45+...and with 1 exception, they're all struggling to decide if they want to switch to smartphones yet. I can't think of a single person under that age I know who texts. They all use something else. Mostly google chat (or hangouts or whatever), kakaotalk or Facebook's IM.
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- Zak 13y agoIf only there was a way for these different providers to interoperate. XMPP gets us most of the way there, but is a bit short on features - inline images still seem to be in development, for example. Worse, those providers that do support it don't consistently support federation, so I still can't talk to a Facebook user from Google Chat.