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The reason iMessage works well is because it's integrated tightly into the OS. So for an open-source alternative to be competitive, it would have to run on... a
by shurcooL 13y ago
The reason iMessage works well is because it's integrated tightly into the OS. So for an open-source alternative to be competitive, it would have to run on... an open mobile OS, which would in turn require open hardware.
- Ar-Curunir 13y agoHeh? Have you tried solutions like Whatsapp, GroupMe, or Viber? They all work absolutely fine on both big mobile OSes, regardless of hardware. I don't see the need for absolutely open hardware for an alternative messaging system. Sure, they aren't FLOSS solutions, but they are much less closed than iMessage and are cross-platform.
- sneak 13y agoWhatsApp does not work on tablets. Its stupid auth system requires a device with a phone number.
- Ar-Curunir 13y agoFine, but Viber does, right? There are open source, secure messaging systems on the way too. My point was that you do not need open hardware to have a relatively open messaging system. Just look at IRC as an example. It might be somewhat dead now, but it certainly runs on everything now.
- toomuchtodo 13y agoOther than that, I find WhatsApp to be amazingly solid as both a one on one and group messaging app. Its why I ditched Hangouts completely. Note: Hangouts is an abomination.
- msh 13y agoNeither of these are open source...
- derefr 13y ago> it would have to run on... an open mobile OS, which would in turn require open hardware. I'm not 100% clear on this: why can't there be an open mobile OS that runs on (bootrom-exploited) iOS devices?
- shurcooL 13y agoI should've added *for best/cleanest experience. Sure, you can use proprietary hardware (iPhone) and try to make it run different software, but your luck getting around their protection systems may vary (and it may or may not be illegal, depending on how much you care).
- ac29 13y agoCurious: has this even been tried? I would assume Apple SoC's require binary drivers, so even though they are similar to Android phones on a hardware level it might be difficult or impossible to even get an Android port to boot. Hell, it can be difficult to get an unsupported version of Android to work without major bugs on an Android phone.
- comex 13y agoIt was tried a few years back: http://www.idroidproject.org http://www.idroidproject.org They had to rewrite the drivers, of course.
- derefr 13y agoImportant to point out: the authors of iDroid stopped, but not due to any technical obstacle; it was mainly because iDroid was a hobbyist project and their lives intervened. Someone else could pick up the effort today, if they wanted.
- stonesam92 13y agoHowever even if someone picked the project up again it wouldn't run on any modern devices, since the last iPhone to have an untethered bootrom exploit was the 3GS.