An introduction to the 3 types of messengers, simply explained. - Thilo Buchholz
thilobuchholz.de
There are centralized, federated, and distributed instant messengers. This article shows their differences and helps in understanding alternatives to WhatsApp.

I’m leaving WhatsApp tomorrow. Now, the privacy-community on the web features countless discussions, blogs, videos, and comments on whether XMPP or Matrix would be the better protocol, whether people should use Signal or not and why - but I’ve been missing one thing: A simple and short article to send to my friends where the main differences between centralized, federated, and distributed messaging services are outlined.

So I wrote one! I thought it might be useful for others too, so I’m sharing it here. Please feel free to bookmark it and share it with your family and friends!

Link to the article in the geminispace: gemini://gemlog.blue/users/yellow/1612715438.gmi

Notice anything missing? Anything wrong and needs to be fixed? Happy to hear and integrate some feedback! :)

  • ihaphleas
    3·
    4 years ago

    Ah, you should also mention that DeltaChat uses a federated system — namely email. This provides a very easy on-ramp for lots of people.

    However, DeltaChat doesn’t offer voice and video calls — and this is a major disability. The same is true of Session.

    Perhaps make a section listing those with voice and/or video call ability.

    • lps
      1·
      4 years ago

      In the latest release of deltachat they’ve included an interesting workaround which messages the recipient a link to a predetermined jitsi room:). It’s in the advanced settings. I pressume if you also use the jitsi meet app it will open automatically.

  • DessalinesA
    31·
    4 years ago

    Great article, love the graphics too. Very good for beginners.

  • ihaphleas
    1·
    4 years ago

    One last note: Conversations (XMPP) isn’t (entirely) free on Google Play Store, I think. But it is free on F-Droid.

    • thiloOP
      3·
      4 years ago

      Thanks a lot for the feedback! I’ll try to reply to everything at once:

      • I’ve used Zulip in the past, but I think including it here makes it a little bit too messy, since the article mainly focuses on personal instant messaging and not corporate/organisational messaging. Otherwise I should probably include a section on e.g. Rocket.Chat and Mattermost as well, and then it would become very bloated. I think others do a good job of explaining that already! I think I’ll include a link to https://www.how2shout.com/tools/open-source-team-chat-software.html under further reading though so that people searching for such alternatives can find one there.

      • I have some personal reservations about the Lokinet project due to it’s role in political extremist/terrorist radicalisation movements (see https://media.ccc.de/v/36c3-10639-let_s_play_infokrieg#l=eng). And personally I don’t know anyone using Session either. So I will leave it out for now.

      • DeltaChat is a good point. I think covering it in this article risks cluttering it up so that the difference between email and XMPP/Matrix might not be that clear anymore? I believe that it’s covered by the links I have in further reading in any case!

      • And on Conversations: That’s true! I adapted the graphic from niboe.info who used Conversations as an example for a XMPP client. The app though is open source - and that’s what counts. (Signal’s source code is also open, and still it’s offered in the Google Play Store). But then again I also don’t cover clients in depth 🙈

      • As for the section on voice/video call ability: Good idea! I think though that all the messengers that I mentioned provide that functionality, except for Briar and RetroShare? I might mention that and will include a link to this messenger matrix under further reading, so that people who want to do so can read up on the details of the functionality of the different messengers :)

      Thanks a lot for your input once again! ^^

      • ihaphleas
        3·
        4 years ago

        All good responses, I only mentioned Zulip because Slack was on a graphic.

        I think it’s a mistake to exclude Session — terrorist groups have probably used other networks even more. Especially if you include Briar and Tox. Session is laggy though … but very, very secure … for journalists in totalitarian regimes, for example.

        What is used in more in illegal activities: USD or BTC?

        DeltaChat doesn’t allow voice/video chat … otherwise it would be almost perfect.

  • ihaphleas
    11·
    4 years ago

    Decent write up, you’re missing Session which is similar to Tox and Zulip an open source and self-hosted Slack alternative.