[FutureSpec]

> But for now this is a good start for creating a standard IM platform available for everyone to replace SMS.

Or it's just a bandaid on a hobbling, old protocol that we should move past. I think Google errs here in being too concerned about backwards compatibility. That there are so many alternatives (WhatsApp, iMessage, Signal) shows there's demand to move on from SMS. And Google of all companies should know how crappy it is to have to rely on carriers (look at the years-long Android updates debacle).

I hear what you're saying about standards being helpful on the Internet, but SMS is a shitty standard from 1984 that even then was built on compromises and hacks (basically fudging things by using an area of GSM that was never designed for messaging):

* "The GSM is optimized for telephony, since this was identified as its main application. The key idea for SMS was to use this telephone-optimized system, and to transport messages on the signalling paths needed to control the telephone traffic during periods when no signalling traffic existed. In this way, unused resources in the system could be used to transport messages at minimal cost. However, it was necessary to limit the length of the messages to 128 bytes" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS#Initial_concept