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Title: 'The Ecosystem is Moving' a gathering with Daniel Gultsch Category: encounter with a developer slug: conversations-gultsch tags: instant messaging, conversations, xmpp
Conversations is an instant messaging application for Android that is based on the XMPP protocol.
This is a chat protocol which has at one point also been the underlying technology of both Google and Facebook chat before they closed it down and made it proprietary. From the onset Conversations focused on a combination of user friendliness, security and ultimately visual design to be on par with mobile messengers such as whatsapp and telegram. The work of Conversations has reinvigorated the XMPP protocol. Partly because it focused on implementing the double-ratchett encryption algorithm almost immediately after it was open-sourced. This is the modern userfriendly end-to-end encryption algorithm developed by Moxie Marlinspike for Signal and licensed to companies like Whatsapp. Another effect of the work of Conversations is that the decades old protocol has been updated in the span of a few years to work very well for mobile usage. For me one of the interesting aspects of the development of Conversations is the role that modern thinking on UIs, design and user friendliness played in its popularity. This especially becomes apparent in the very technical and awkward world of XMPP software. The developer has mentioned multiple times that he 'bases' his design on that of his GAFA 'competitors'. Apropos tactical media, this project's appropriation of corporate design, yet very clear and solid political stance (see https://gultsch.de/objection.html) leading to an increase in popularity and community involvement is an interesting development.