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by snazz 2051 days ago
MMS doesn't work on any FOSS non-Android Linux phone I'm aware of, so they definitely do not work for a significant percentage of the population even for basic group text messages.

Building an alternative phone OS is much harder than building an alternative desktop OS—the requirements are much higher (battery life, cellular, app support) and the mobile web is far less developed as a stopgap compared to the desktop web.

Desktop Linux is usable for most developers and people who don't care about UI consistency or proprietary applications like Office and Creative Cloud. That's a reasonably significant chunk of the computer-using population. The same cannot be said of phones.
2 comments
OJFord 2051 days ago
MMS? Seriously, that's your bar?

I haven't had it working on Android or iOS for years, only realising when it accidentally tries to send.

I just assumed it didn't work because nobody cared.

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snazz 2051 days ago
No, that's just a technology that I consider "basic"—and one which most Americans use at least a little, even if the experience is terrible. And it does work for most people, even if it compresses images to oblivion and is slow to send messages.

My bar for widespread adoption is far higher, but it may be somewhat unattainable and it's definitely not necessary for the types of people who use desktop Linux. Even if you're happy with desktop Linux—in other words, your expectations of integration and proprietary software support are low—you won't be happy with current Linux phones.

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lxgr 2051 days ago
SMS and MMS are much more popular in the US than in the rest of the world in my experience.

They are, to my understanding, the default way of sharing pictures and group messages between iOS and Android there.

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swiley 2051 days ago
On the Linux phone I have (pinephone) with the carrier I have (At&t) there is a script that can pull and send mms messages. There's work to get this integrated into libpurple sms so it you can use it from a shiny GTK3 app just like sms.

I think it would be good to point out that MMS often doesn't even work on android phones. So making that a requirement is a bit silly.

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