[eznzt]

If you need to force people to use alternatives it's because they are not much better to begin with.

I've used the Signal app and it's a bug fest. Telegram is not even encrypted by default and there is no option for encrypted groups.

[GraemeMeyer]

> If you need to force people to use alternatives it's because they are not much better to begin with.

This isn't necessarily true - that's basically the problem with monopolies and the point of anti-trust. The network effect really can entrench an inferior product.

[Spivak]

That's not a useful definition of better though. WhatsApp, Messenger, etc. are better because they're reliable and the people I want to talk to use them.

MMS messages are hot garbage but they're still better than a lot of alternatives because everyone with a phone can receive them.

[josefx]

Main reason I use whats app is because everyone else I deal with uses whats app, not because it has specific features. I could probably list a different chat app and social networking site for every time I switched a school and when I started to study.

[rusk]

I do personally believe that for all its faults WhatsApp is the best. It’s a pity about that but I guess FB have to pay all those great developers somehow. It’s up to regulation to set the boundaries for what’s acceptable in business so let’s see what happens.

[josefx]

> It’s a pity about that but I guess FB have to pay all those great developers somehow.

They could just run it as a paid service again? They had a minimal annual charge before the Facebook acquisition and probably could have raised that, instead Facebook made it "free" which should have been a warning sign of things to come.

[hadrien01]

One of the reasons the founders left was that FB wanted to put ads and track users, and didn't even want to try to make a Business paid version like WhatsApp proposed.

[skinkestek]

> Telegram is not even encrypted by default and there is no option for encrypted groups.

Friendly reminder that encryption is more than E2E-encryption despite what certain people on HN thinks.

Telegram is encrypted point-to-point by default. Same as banks, modern mail etc.

Can we stop spreading technical misinformation now, please? There's plenty of other issues with Telegram and if we stop crying wolf over the neighbors grand danois people might actually believe us when there is an actual wolf.