Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by nl 3823 days ago
I've replied up-thread about this, but while it's true that some people complain about it, many also see this as a strength. Plenty of people are quite happy to install 20 IM clients in order to keep different aspects of their life separate.

If you doubt this, think back to the numerous HN threads where people complain about how they want to keep the Facebook profile separate to their LinkedIn profile. It's unclear why this is different.
1 comments
shmerl 3823 days ago
You are mixing up the need to separate accounts / identities (which even single client can easily do even for the same service), and artificial separation of services caused by the lack of interoperability. Those are completely unrelated issues (first is something that user should have a choice to do, second is something forced on the user).

I explained it here as well: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10856612

link
nl 3823 days ago
I'm not mixing anything up. I'm saying that many people prefer it (and actually I do too).

Saying that they are completely unrelated issues appears to ignore a minor detail called implementation(!?)

Almost every mainstream IM client requires you to sign out of one account and into another if you want to maintain separate accounts. That means that if you actually want to use them (ie, get instant messages instantly) you need to be signed into all your accounts at once.

link
shmerl 3823 days ago
Yoy didn't address my point above. The need to separate identities and accounts is not equal to the boundaries set by non federated services.

And my IM clients have no problem enabling many accounts in parallel. Some client must be really crippled and archaic not to enable that. I can run multiple clients too if I wish (Pidgin. KDE Telepathy and etc.) but not because they can't talk to the same service but for whatever MY reason. Again - don't mix up unrelated issues.

link