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Discussion on: Why Telegram is the One True King of Messengers

 
nikoheikkila profile image
Niko Heikkilä

They have open-sourced their client library, though, along with their official clients so I would count that as positive. I agree that details regarding server implementation should be released as well but neither have any of the major competitors done so (correct me if I'm wrong).

GitHub logo tdlib / td

Cross-platform library for building Telegram clients

TDLib

TDLib (Telegram Database library) is a cross-platform library for building Telegram clients. It can be easily used from almost any programming language.

Table of Contents

Features

TDLib has many advantages. Notably TDLib is:

  • Cross-platform: TDLib can be used on Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, Windows Phone, WebAssembly, watchOS, tvOS, Tizen, Cygwin. It should also work on other *nix systems with or without minimal effort.
  • Multilanguage: TDLib can be easily used with any programming language that is able to execute C functions. Additionally it already has native Java (using JNI) bindings and .NET (using C++/CLI and C++/CX) bindings.
  • Easy to use: TDLib takes care of all network implementation details, encryption and local data storage.
  • High-performance: in…

As for the peer-review, this is another odd argument which the majority of journalists tend to buy without any criticism at all. Anyone can take a look at this page and conduct their own review, and I believe most have. Yet many so-called "security experts" are rejecting this algorithm due to the fact that it's not the same that Signal uses which is... I don't even know what to say.

I admit to be a little defensive here but having followed discussion around Telegram for years where almost everytime people cite Edward Snowden's words about "use nothing else than Signal" makes me quite sceptic against the entire field of security. The root problem is, of course, today anyone can have a hot take on application security without comprehensive arguments and media will signal boost it without giving it even half a thought.

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rhymes profile image
rhymes

Ok, let's say Telegram e2e encryption is solid, the fact that it's not enabled by default it's still a no for me. It's 2019, come on.

Google tried to release a new messaging system without encryption and was blasted on day one.

The fact that we allow personal communication to go god knows where in clear just because they have better stickers is a no for me if I can avoid it.

I don't like that Slack is not encrypted or that email is not either. At least let me use one form of communication that is :-)

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nikoheikkila profile image
Niko Heikkilä

Feel free to continue as you were. I guess WhatsApp has stickers too? 🤞

It's 2019 but the rise of Slack, Discord, and other group chat apps shows that seamless usability is often more desired attribute than security for the masses. I can't fight them so I have joined them.