How do you feel about #Beeper, #Automattic and Automattic acquiring Beeper?
TBH credit is due where credit is due. Nobody can predict the real intentions of a company, least of all engineers, but Beeper has from day 1 built its product on top of #Matrix, it has made it much easier to install and configure messaging bridges (even to those less likely to go through the hassle of configuring a full Synapse server and install bridges with huge configuration files), and it has challenged Apple head-to-head with the iMessage bridge.
I feel that Beeper joining forces with Automattic will give the company both:
Stronger shoulders to defend themselves from lawsuits coming from the likes of Apple and anybody who has made it their business mission to oppose inter-operability as long as they can - Apple can’t simply take down a Github repo with a snap of their fingers if that Github repo is owned by the same company that also owns Wordpress, at least not without a lengthy legal battle on the blueprint of Epic v Apple. Moreover, sclerotic corporate scum with an outdated business model like Apple will just never understand how big of a favour they do to small companies like Beeper when they attack them. Beeper was in beta until recently. Then it got a lot of attention after Apple declared war to its iMessage bridge. Consequence: the largest company on earth suddenly put a relatively small product like Beeper under the spotlight, its user-base went up by an order of magnitude or so within a short time frame, they rushed their way out of beta, and now Automattic is acquiring them. There’s no better publicity than an aggressive rent-seeking parasite waging war against your product.
More opportunities to sit at a table with the likes of Google, Meta etc. and get them to actually build the open alternatives together, instead of reverse engineering their closed garden and play and endless catch-up game with them.
The timing of this announcement is also perfect, as the EU’s #DMA is just about to make inter-operability a requirement for messaging gatekeepers - and Beeper seems to be eager to capitalize on its opportunity of being at the right place at the right time.
Let’s keep an eye on how this product develops. I see a lot of potential for growth, and I’ll be looking for all the signals of early-exit/lock-in/enshittification.
Honestly, I don't think there is a better way to read your morning news than in Links on a memory LCD. This is how the internet is meant to be consumed
Kudos to #Beeper for their competitive compatibility hijinks as of late.
No doubt they’re intentionally building a case for regulators. They’ve forced Apple’s hand, effectively showing that cross-platform comms is a matter of willingness, not technical limitation.
Seeing as Apple’s company policy is provably anti-competitive, we the users rely on state-mandated policies to overrule them in favor of adversarial interop.
A happy ending for the company who annoyed #Apple & #iMessage users everywhere.
As far as a universal messaging system goes, this has been attempted numerous times with little success. I can see #Beeper complimenting #WordPress sites, but I do not see them creating a universal standard for sending messages.
But do we need a universal messaging system when we have email‽
If you want secure messaging between #iPhones and #Android phones, don’t use #Beeper. Seriously, don’t do it. There are other, better and more reliable options out there (cough Signal cough).
I've used Beeper (w/a test Apple account) & liked it. However after the recent kerfuffle around Beeper Mini, I deleted the app b/c I didn't like how Beeper handled things (adding devices to my iCloud account & unregistering a phone number, both w/o my permission)
#pypush now has a branch where it can register a phone number to your #Apple#iMessage account via a helper #Android app.
This means that you can send iMessages from your phone number (better than email for some reason) with #Beeper or #BlueBubbles, without owning an iPhone.
#Apple blocking #Beeper Mini was entirely predictable and clearly highlights the obvious: cares more about product lock-in and creating a two-tiered messaging system that makes people feel bad for being a green bubble than they do creating a platform that is truly E2E encrypted by default regardless of protocol.
"Privacy is a human right" means nothing if they don't actually do anything to make it happen.
Feels like this whole problem of Blue bubble/Green bubble is so American? I don't know anywhere else in the world its such a big problem?
Sure people will tell me, I'm very wrong :)
Okay I'm really starting to love #Beeper! I finally got Facebook hooked up to it, so I can get Messenger messages in it, and already have iMessage hooked into it. Also it does have sound effects, they're just not enabled. And the settings option is hidden in a menu button near your chats. Yeah it needs some accessibility work, but I think I'm really gonna get some use out of this.
ÇA Y'EST ! La libération !!!!! #Beeper est en accès libre 😍 😍 😍
C'est vraiment génial comme application on s'en rends pas compte à quel point ça change tout d'un coup d'avoir toutes ses messageries centralisées en 1 seul endroit vraiment GG aux devs !
En plus l'app est open-source et de ce que j'ai vu, relativement transparente avec les données partagées c'est génial d'avoir des projets comme ça ! Attendez-vous à ce que j'en parle pendant des jours 😅