[problems]

> The comment I replied to originally included a question on whether Signals server is even open source.

Sorry about that, I had looked it up just a second after I posted and then removed that line.

> hate on Signal/OWS

I don't mean to hate on them, just their stance on getting away from Google, using F-Droid, federating their service and many other things has been more than a bit of a mess or disappointment. I'm glad they finally made a step in the right direction and I hope this will continue.

[Certhas]

The thing is, they gave good reasons on all these points. It's certainly valid to disagree with the trade offs, but people don't acknowledge that there are trade offs at all.

As I said in another reply, I can get a completely non-technical user to start using Signal with me in a minute, and have them have an experience that is as accessible as WhatsApp. That's simply not true for any of the other options I'm aware of (and it relates directly to most of the points you raise, with the notable exception of F-Droid. There I also find their reasoning weakest).