I like RCS. I hate it was kidnapped by Google and they’re the only ones hosting the servers instead of the carriers as it was supposed to be. Instead of the agnostic infrastructure we were supposed to have, we got another corporate monopoly hell scape.
I heard RCS was due to open up any day now. I heard that like 5 years ago. I want to be able to use Textra (or other 3rd party texting apps) again. I fucking hate that I’m locked into Google messages if I want to be able to send high res photos and whatnot to my non-techy friends and family.
Was it kidnapped? Or did the carriers basically dump it on the fire stations doorstep? Not really googles fault if every carrier was too lazy to run their own RCS servers…
Then federate, decentralize it, or abandon it to die. Let’s not pretend Google is saving something sacred like a baby’s life. They took up RCS to compete with Apple. This is not a tragedy, it was made this way by design.
Google didn’t develop RCS, GSMA did. All google did was purchase the startup that actually developed a good implementation of it.
This isnt some gatekeeping exercise from google, they had nothing to do with RCS’s initial design and release. The carriers are entirely to blame for dragging their feet, although some are finally implementing their own servers (China is entirely RCS without google).
As for “federate it, decentralise it”, thats how it already is. Its called “hubbing”, but its basically federation. The networks run their server, and the federate messages between them. It isn’t centralised at all.
What google did is host RCS infrastructure and have the worlds most popular messaging client.
You can absolutely setup an RCS server, build an FCS client that has the appropriate keys and access, put RCS relays in important peering points a over the world, and roll that out to millions of ppl yourself.
Sort of like nuclear power; you could probably build a reactor yourself, but it’s a heavy lift plus there are players that don’t want you to.
They bought an implementation of RCS, the standard is still open. They even sell there implementation to a few telcos.
You cant self host it because you need to be a telco, it has telco specific protocols. Also, this is one of the things that probably should be gatekept to telcos, if everyone were able to spin up their own instance, the spam problem would be unmanageable.
Your looking for a conspiracy/monopoly that for once, doesnt exist due to Google being malicious. It exists because telcos are shit.
I like that my Apple messages client can now participate in encrypted RCS chats. It’s still green boxes though. No competition, just raised the floor a little from SMS as the basic service
Yeah, the reality is the only way is was going to happen was if someone like Google made it happen. RCS was dying on the vine for many years. The carriers were never going to implement it.
Which is surprising when you look at Europe. Europe made text messaging too costly early on and everyone switched to WhatsApp. You’d think Europe would try to win people back with RCS but instead… Nothing?
I like RCS. I hate it was kidnapped by Google and they’re the only ones hosting the servers instead of the carriers as it was supposed to be. Instead of the agnostic infrastructure we were supposed to have, we got another corporate monopoly hell scape.
I heard RCS was due to open up any day now. I heard that like 5 years ago. I want to be able to use Textra (or other 3rd party texting apps) again. I fucking hate that I’m locked into Google messages if I want to be able to send high res photos and whatnot to my non-techy friends and family.
Was it kidnapped? Or did the carriers basically dump it on the fire stations doorstep? Not really googles fault if every carrier was too lazy to run their own RCS servers…
Then federate, decentralize it, or abandon it to die. Let’s not pretend Google is saving something sacred like a baby’s life. They took up RCS to compete with Apple. This is not a tragedy, it was made this way by design.
a tactic Google is supremely familiar with
Google didn’t develop RCS, GSMA did. All google did was purchase the startup that actually developed a good implementation of it.
This isnt some gatekeeping exercise from google, they had nothing to do with RCS’s initial design and release. The carriers are entirely to blame for dragging their feet, although some are finally implementing their own servers (China is entirely RCS without google).
As for “federate it, decentralise it”, thats how it already is. Its called “hubbing”, but its basically federation. The networks run their server, and the federate messages between them. It isn’t centralised at all.
Never said they developed it. They bought it for a reason though.
Can we self-host a RCS server and hub with all the RCS network?
Google didn’t buy it, it’s an open standard.
What google did is host RCS infrastructure and have the worlds most popular messaging client.
You can absolutely setup an RCS server, build an FCS client that has the appropriate keys and access, put RCS relays in important peering points a over the world, and roll that out to millions of ppl yourself.
Sort of like nuclear power; you could probably build a reactor yourself, but it’s a heavy lift plus there are players that don’t want you to.
They bought an implementation of RCS, the standard is still open. They even sell there implementation to a few telcos.
You cant self host it because you need to be a telco, it has telco specific protocols. Also, this is one of the things that probably should be gatekept to telcos, if everyone were able to spin up their own instance, the spam problem would be unmanageable.
Your looking for a conspiracy/monopoly that for once, doesnt exist due to Google being malicious. It exists because telcos are shit.
Two entities can be shit, and also malicious, at the same time.
I like that my Apple messages client can now participate in encrypted RCS chats. It’s still green boxes though. No competition, just raised the floor a little from SMS as the basic service
Yeah, the reality is the only way is was going to happen was if someone like Google made it happen. RCS was dying on the vine for many years. The carriers were never going to implement it.
Which is surprising when you look at Europe. Europe made text messaging too costly early on and everyone switched to WhatsApp. You’d think Europe would try to win people back with RCS but instead… Nothing?
Why? People expect SMS to be free these days, it’s only added costs for the carrier to implement RCS. That’s the problem.