Hi Phillip,
At 08:53 AM 08-09-2022, Phillip Hallam-Baker wrote:
A standard is something that has established a user community. For
whatever reason, Jabber has failed to do that and not for lack of trying.
Yes.
I have only ever used Jabber at IETFs and on multiple occasions, I
have arrived at an IETF to discover that my Jabber application has
simply stopped working. I have had accounts at three separate
identity providers fail because the provider shut down.
Unfortunately, Adium is simply not fit for purpose. If you happen to
have chosen one of the identity providers that has shut down, you
will be left in a state where it won't work and will not tell you
why. There may be better options but after spending the first 45
minutes of multiple IETFs trying to get a working jabber config,
Tools of the 'it works for me' variety are not fit for purpose even
if they do have a glossy GUI.
The IETF standardized on XMPP well before 2011. The protocol was
implemented for Meetecho, if I am not mistaken. My experience is a
bit different from yours. I encountered a few problems. However, I
received support from Meetcho and my service provider and the problem
were resolved quickly.
There are many mistakes made in standards work but one of the most
common is to keep flogging a dead horse. While there is certainly a
possibility that XMPP will somehow manage to Travolta and sweep away
the proprietary messaging systems we are stuck with, that is far
from being a likely outcome.
The IETF recognizing that Jabber has failed to succeed is a positive
step in my view because it clears the way for an approach that has a
better chance of success.
My goal here is to establish an open infrastructure for messaging
that has end-to-end security built in. If I thought Jabber was a
viable vehicle for achieving that, I would have designed my system
around Jabber. As things stand, there is no messaging solution that
is designed as an open infrastructure. Signal has an open standard
but it is not an open service, it is a walled garden.
I read some of your work on mesh. As an comment unrelated to mesh, I
would say that it would be very difficult to compete with the
established messaging services. I doubt that the users [1] would
migrate to a service based on open standards given that their
existing service works for them.
Regards,
S. Moonesamy
1. It may be different from your end as the user base and ecosystem
are likely different.
