Kaidan 0.5 Released As The KDE-Focused Jabber/XMPP Chat Client

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Kaidan 0.5 Released As The KDE-Focused Jabber/XMPP Chat Client

Kaidan is the open-source project that last year joined KDE as a Jabber/XMPP chat client. After a half year of work, Kaidan 0.5 has finally been released...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Kaidan-0.5-Released

[Lanz]

Kirigami would be great on a phone or tablet. Not sure why I'd want a desktop app to look like that though.

[Cape]

Kirigami would be great on a phone or tablet. Not sure why I'd want a desktop app to look like that though.

I think it looks perfect on Desktop as well. What puts me off from that screenshot is the theme. Greyish+whiteish is so 1999 that I'm expecting Cassius to sue the KDE devteam for copyright infringement!


In general, KDE is very much damaged from their default theme and looks. You know... most KDE developers are Germans... Germans are good engineers, but they definitely lack in taste ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Shiba]

They still refuse to support MUC?

[Luke_Wolf]

I'm surprised anybody is bothering with writing such a thing given that Jabber/XMPP is basically a dead protocol at this point. Sure you can host your own, but with all the major providers having pulled out who are you going to talk to?

[r_a_trip]

I'm surprised anybody is bothering with writing such a thing given that Jabber/XMPP is basically a dead protocol at this point. Sure you can host your own, but with all the major providers having pulled out who are you going to talk to?

That is basically the problem with any FOSS "social" solution that requires the majority to adopt it. It never happens. The big corporations will only pay lipservice as long as they get some positive buzz going, but they are going to return to closed silos very soon as that gives them more options to monetize. Joe and Jane Sixpack don't want to think about platforms and freedom from abuse. They just want to be able to have the latest advertised shiny, so they can communicate with Sam and Sally McBurger. Meanwhile FOSS diehards are stuck in fully free wastelands, devoid of the people they care about.

[Luke_Wolf]

That is basically the problem with any FOSS "social" solution that requires the majority to adopt it. It never happens. The big corporations will only pay lipservice as long as they get some positive buzz going, but they are going to return to closed silos very soon as that gives them more options to monetize. Joe and Jane Sixpack don't want to think about platforms and freedom from abuse. They just want to be able to have the latest advertised shiny, so they can communicate with Sam and Sally McBurger. Meanwhile FOSS diehards are stuck in fully free wastelands, devoid of the people they care about.

While I agree with the general sentiment I wouldn't go so far. The truth is that people are relatively flexible as far as what chat programs and protocols they are willing to use, however it has to be something easily accessible and that isn't obscure.

Telegram which has an open source client (though not server) has been at least as successful as any other major instant messaging platform, and it's kind of the new kid on the block. What makes telegram different than the Free Software IM attempts is that #1 it had features that people wanted (stickers, gifs, etc) and #2 Pavel Durov actually advertised it rather than making the wildly incorrect assumption that "if we build it they will come".

Discord which is not free software in any sense also came out around the same time and completely disrupted the skype and teamspeak market, because again they advertised, they outreached rather than sitting on their thumbs and going "Well if we make it good we'll get people". On the contrary Discord is kinda crap in a lot of ways: the service is down enough to be annoying and the voice call quality leaves a lot to be desired, and yet... it is the new IRC for people under 30.

Basically it is entirely plausible that a fully open source stack and protocol could someday take over, however it needs:
1. To be easy to set up and get going in (Looking at most of the FOSS IM stacks)
2. Multidevice friendly (looking at you Tox)
3. Be well advertised
The rest doesn't really matter all that much (I mean look at Discord), but miss any one of those 3 and you're never going to be used. Unfortunately this is where all the FOSS solutions fall down.

[CTTY]

There is not even Omemo support :-(

[andyprough]

That is basically the problem with any FOSS "social" solution that requires the majority to adopt it. It never happens. The big corporations will only pay lipservice as long as they get some positive buzz going, but they are going to return to closed silos very soon as that gives them more options to monetize. Joe and Jane Sixpack don't want to think about platforms and freedom from abuse. They just want to be able to have the latest advertised shiny, so they can communicate with Sam and Sally McBurger. Meanwhile FOSS diehards are stuck in fully free wastelands, devoid of the people they care about.

jitsi meet works real well, and all you have to do is send a meeting link to your recipient to get started. Seems to overcome the problems you are talking about. Apache 2.0 licensed. Anyone that can join a Zoom or Skype meeting would be able to join a jitsi meeting. Not the same thing as Kaidan, but will get you talking to people.

[Vistaus]

I think it looks perfect on Desktop as well. What puts me off from that screenshot is the theme. Greyish+whiteish is so 1999 that I'm expecting Cassius to sue the KDE devteam for copyright infringement!


In general, KDE is very much damaged from their default theme and looks. You know... most KDE developers are Germans... Germans are good engineers, but they definitely lack in taste ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Most KDE developers are indeed German, but the current KDE was designed by a an actual design team, and I'm not sure if they were (mostly) German as well.