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submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by breakfastmtn@lemmy.ca to c/fediverse@lemmy.world

The developer behind Pixelfed, Loops, and Sup, open source alternatives to Instagram, TikTok, and WhatsApp, respectively, is now raising funds on Kickstarter to fuel the apps’ further development.

The trio is part of the growing open social web, also known as the fediverse, powered by the same ActivityPub protocol used by X alternative Mastodon. The latter saw increased signups and use after the company formerly known as Twitter sold to Elon Musk in October 2022 and during the X exodus that followed the U.S. presidential election.

In the months and years following that sale, open source and decentralized apps like Mastodon and Bluesky (which uses the newer AT Protocol), have continued to grow their user bases, as people sought alternatives to centralized social media apps controlled by billionaires like Musk and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg.

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Edit: Link to the kickstarter

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[-] jaggedrobotpubes@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

Stuff like this is a major, major component of dealing with nazis.

And even after they're dealt with, it's a better way of doing things, anyway. If it's a company, you're not on their social media platform, as much as you can possibly manage.

Which is a lot.

[-] paequ2@lemmy.today 1 points 6 months ago

If all my friends, family, and coworkers could get off WhatsApp, I would be so happy.

[-] Banana@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 months ago

I'm trying to convince mine to get on Signal

[-] RQG@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

I just did convince my family and all close friends to move to signal.

[-] Suoko@feddit.it -1 points 6 months ago

RCS could be also an option. Now mostly backed by google but it can be unplugged whenever we want

[-] perfectly_boiled_pizza@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

I'm not going to use a proprietary protocol to chat through Google's (Jibe) servers running proprietary software. Even if the messages are e2ee, Google can still collect metadata. Google never provides anything for free and collection of data is kinda their thing.

[-] Scrollone@feddit.it 1 points 6 months ago

Also, Google will kill RCS sooner or later.

[-] MITM0@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago
[-] breakfastmtn@lemmy.ca 1 points 6 months ago

Not too much. Sup with you?

[-] MITM0@lemmy.world 0 points 6 months ago

😂😂 Nice one Anyways, what is this "Sup" that people keep talking about ? Is it another federated platform ?

[-] breakfastmtn@lemmy.ca 0 points 6 months ago

Thanks for being a good sport. In these trying times we have to cherish every genuine updog moment we find ourselves in.

It's federated encrypted messaging :)

[-] DarkCloud@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

Okay so

BlueSky = Twitter
Loops = TikTok
PixelFed = Instagram
Sup = What's App
Lemmy = Reddit

[-] oozy7@lemmy.world 0 points 6 months ago

WhatsApp? Just use signal already!

[-] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 0 points 6 months ago

Not on FDroid. Not open source

[-] archchan@lemmy.ml 0 points 6 months ago

But it is open source. And there's a fork of Signal available on F-Droid called Molly.

[-] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 0 points 6 months ago

It is not open source. That's why its not allowed on fdroid. It has parts that are open source, like most apps. But the app itself is closed source and a risk

[-] jackalope@lemmy.ml 0 points 6 months ago

The only part that isn't open source is their spam filter.

[-] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 0 points 6 months ago
[-] jackalope@lemmy.ml 0 points 6 months ago

Can you explain a little more what you mean?

[-] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 0 points 6 months ago

The app requires code from Google that is not open source and has a history of being malware that invades your privacy and steals your data.

[-] jackalope@lemmy.ml 0 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

I'm not aware of any code from Google it requires. What history of stealing data does signal have?

[-] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 0 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

It requires closed source* google code yes

[-] jackalope@lemmy.ml 1 points 6 months ago

Can you link me what you're talking about? I'm searching for it and having trouble finding the thing you're describing. The only info I find is about their spam detection (which I already knew about but doesn't sound like it's the thing you're talking about.)

[-] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 2 points 6 months ago

Search in their github issues for "fdroid". Make sure to include closed tickets.

[-] ExFed@lemm.ee 0 points 6 months ago

Not open source

There are lots of good reasons to be upset with how Signal produces builds. And maybe Signal has no good reason why they keep opaque dependencies. But by every common definition of the term, Signal is open source. Being on FDroid is not the definition of open source.

Please don't gatekeep. There are better ways to criticize Signal. This is not one of them.

[-] jagged_circle@feddit.nl -1 points 6 months ago

If your releases include closed source blobs, then your software is closed source.

[-] ExFed@lemm.ee 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Following that logic:

Many popular Linux distros contain closed source blobs. Ergo Linux is closed source.

[-] warmaster@lemmy.world 0 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Centralized. Not good. Conversations is on fdroid and is decentralized, federated, open source and uses a mature and battle tested protocol (XMPP). If I wanted something new, I would prefer Matrix over Signal.

[-] Deway@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

People act like we need an alternative to Whatsapp but XMPP/Jabber exists and is much older.

[-] nonfuinoncuro@lemm.ee 1 points 6 months ago
[-] Deway@lemmy.world 0 points 6 months ago

Pidgin is a client, not a specific protocol.

[-] nonfuinoncuro@lemm.ee 0 points 6 months ago

I know, I just remember I used to use it with jabber xmpp but I think after everyone got gtalk and then everyone got cellphones everyone moved away from those types of clients

[-] Deway@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

Fun fact, Google Talk and Facebook used to be compatible with XMPP.

[-] viking@infosec.pub 0 points 6 months ago

Nobody but a handful of nerds uses it though. You won't get your grandparents and less tech literate friends to leave whatsapp in droves, simple as that.

[-] Deway@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

And they're not going to leave WhatsApp for Sup? either. All I'm saying is we've had an alternative for decades, even before WA was created, we don't need another one, we need the one we already have to have more success.

[-] astro_ray@piefed.social 0 points 6 months ago

Why are there so many downvotes? Dude said the truth. Signal, like whatsapp, is a single point of failure. It can be enshittified just like whatsapp.

[-] moitoi@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 6 months ago

We are on Lemmy and some are against everything who is centralized.

[-] astro_ray@piefed.social 1 points 6 months ago

With so many examples like twitter, reddit, Factbook, whatsapp, instagram etc. can you really blame us for not liking centralized services? Also, I don't hate all centralized services. I love Wikipedia, Openstreetmap.org etc. Also, the outage of OSM earlier proves that single point of failure is a reason for concern.

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[-] hexagonwin@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 6 months ago

Never heard of Sup for some reason, gotta check it out.

[-] n2burns@lemmy.ca 0 points 6 months ago

Sup hasn't been released yet, so that's probably why you haven't heard of it. Dan says beta testing launches early 2025.

[-] NotSteve_@lemmy.ca 0 points 6 months ago

Is it really just one guy writing three different platforms?

[-] underscores@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 6 months ago

There's hundreds of other contributers, but he started them all and did the bulk of the work. The plan is to have more regular developers if they get enough donations.

[-] NotSteve_@lemmy.ca 0 points 6 months ago

Ah ok that makes sense. In my head this guy was maintaining four codebases which did seem impossible

[-] Harbinger01173430@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

It's not impossible if you are a good developer

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this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2025
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