[HN Gopher] Become a Signal Sustainer
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       Become a Signal Sustainer
        
       Author : feross
       Score  : 46 points
       Date   : 2021-12-01 20:32 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (signal.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (signal.org)
        
       | drcongo wrote:
       | I've pretty much stopped using Signal since they said they're not
       | going to port it to M1. Probably would have done this otherwise.
        
         | mdaniel wrote:
         | While that certainly squares with my mental model, do you
         | happen to have a link to that decision?
        
           | drcongo wrote:
           | Sorry, yes. There's multiple sources, but a lot of it
           | collected here: https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-
           | Desktop/issues/4461
           | 
           | They keep shutting down tickets about it, refuse to review a
           | PR that implemented it for them, and won't even tick the box
           | on the Signal iPad app that would make it available on M1
           | Macs (where side-loaders have already confirmed for them that
           | it works perfectly.
           | 
           | 90% of my Signal usage was on desktop, so this has left such
           | a bad taste that I'd rather use almost anything else now.
        
             | willk wrote:
             | > tick the box on the Signal iPad app that would make it
             | available on M1 Macs
             | 
             | This annoys me the most. I don't see the downside of them
             | enabling it. It would bring the Mac client into feature
             | parity with the IOS client and eventually reduce
             | complexity. It seems like it would be an easy win-win.
        
             | 0_____0 wrote:
             | Is there a substantial benefit to running something like
             | Signal on M1 natively vs. through Rosetta? I don't have an
             | M1 Mac so I don't a feel for this issue but my
             | understanding was that between Intel and M1+Rosetta, x86-64
             | native applications run approximately the same.
        
             | wlesieutre wrote:
             | _> won 't even tick the box on the Signal iPad app that
             | would make it available on M1 Macs_
             | 
             | Isn't that box ticked by default? I think what Signal has
             | done is gone in and deliberately unticked it to make you
             | use the Intel Mac app in Rosetta rather than the iPad app.
             | 
             | Edit: yup
             | 
             |  _> After you sign the updated developer agreement, the App
             | Store automatically makes compatible iOS apps available to
             | users of a Mac with Apple silicon. However, if you're
             | already planning to ship a macOS version of your app, or if
             | your app doesn't make sense on the Mac, you can change your
             | app's availability in App Store Connect._
        
               | drcongo wrote:
               | Wow. That's even more user-hostile then.
        
           | vinay427 wrote:
           | Not the person you replied to, but a GitHub issue thread [1]
           | seems quite close.
           | 
           | I find it somewhat confusing and potentially troubling that
           | (from a few minutes of searching so correct me if I'm wrong)
           | a full-featured ARM-native fork seems to have been created in
           | the community, but the team apparently doesn't want to go the
           | extra mile of designing the build/CI system to incorporate
           | this as an official release.
           | 
           | [1] https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Desktop/issues/5612
        
             | mdaniel wrote:
             | That's why I said it squares with my mental model. IIRC
             | they have been super hostile to any 3rd party clients,
             | which is (likely) what "created in the community" means to
             | them
             | 
             | I also have a ton of bitterness about their build system
             | since it seems every few months they make their gradle and
             | codesigning process more and more hostile to self-building.
             | And I appreciate that is kind of an edge case but if they
             | ever want people to chip in and try to fix the seemingly
             | unbounded MMS (and now SMS!) bugs, they'd be well served to
             | have less wizardry
        
         | vageli wrote:
         | Signal runs without issue on my M1 Macbook Air.
        
           | ArchOversight wrote:
           | It runs under Rosetta 2. Not natively.
        
           | vinay427 wrote:
           | I assume they mean native ARM support rather than depending
           | on Rosetta 2, which from what I can tell [1] is still the
           | case.
           | 
           | [1] https://doesitarm.com/app/signal/
        
             | bilal4hmed wrote:
             | I also think it was more about ARM.....I dont like using it
             | since it wont work on my ARM Chromebook, there are also the
             | huge battery drain issues on Android and mediocre
             | video/audio calling
        
           | drcongo wrote:
           | I didn't say it doesn't run, and thanks for the ill-informed
           | downvote.
        
         | tapoxi wrote:
         | I really don't get their hostility to low hanging fruit. They
         | continue to only publish a Debian package, if you're on any
         | other distribution you need to use a community built Flatpak.
         | They could improve the security of everyone by just building
         | the same Flatpak themselves!
        
           | headhasthoughts wrote:
           | The Signal xbps package works fine, and Flatpaks are security
           | hell.
        
       | kayson wrote:
       | I donated to Signal Foundation a while back and tried to get my
       | employer donation match but no one from Signal ever responded to
       | their information requests. Oh well... their loss
        
         | aYsY4dDQ2NrcNzA wrote:
         | The Signal Technology Foundation is in Benevity. My employer
         | matches 100%.
        
       | tapoxi wrote:
       | Maybe I'd care if they didn't spend a year of donation-funded
       | development time on Mobilecoin integration.
        
         | carlosdp wrote:
         | Funny, I was just thinking I'd much rather they launched
         | something like Mobilecoin instead of depending on donations.
        
         | pindogu wrote:
         | I agree, its really frustrating since that time and effort
         | could've gone into messaging/communication features
        
       | jarbus wrote:
       | LOVE how they don't autorenew subscriptions. Despite the MOB
       | fiasco, I think the people behind this still have good
       | intentions.
        
       | Shadonototra wrote:
       | how they managed to pay their employees in the bay area up until
       | then?
       | 
       | donations? i don't buy it
       | 
       | where can i find how they manage their finance?
        
         | bilal4hmed wrote:
         | here is the last time they published their numbers
         | 
         | https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/824...
        
           | Shadonototra wrote:
           | 2018 - 609k of revenue (100% from investment)?
           | 
           | 2019 - 19M of revenue
           | 
           | --
           | 
           | 2018 - 450k to AWS (indicates they have an infrastructure and
           | users)
           | 
           | 2019 - 887k to AWS
           | 
           | so their invoice for AWS only just doubled and yet their
           | revenue increased by 3019.87%
           | 
           | very fishy activity
           | 
           | i'd love to be able to see their cryto wallets, i suspect
           | some money laundering activity
        
       | gaius_baltar wrote:
       | That explains the badge thing! Time to donate. Signal is not
       | perfect and has a few things that make me really mad, but it is
       | the best grandma-compatible IM we have.
       | 
       | I also hope they start listening to their users or integrating
       | some PRs already contributed on GitHub.
        
       | daviross wrote:
       | Don't they have a cryptocurrency to fund them instead, now? I
       | mean, I get it, asking for money means more funding than not
       | asking for money, but it combines in poor taste, in my opinion.
       | 
       | I suppose at least they haven't gone in on NFTs, so there's still
       | hope.
        
       | somenewaccount1 wrote:
       | will the books be open sourced? e.g. how much was donated vs how
       | much it costs to run signal? Whom gets any excess? If it's truly
       | non-profit, why not form a 503c that I can get a tax deduction
       | for? That last part is what is required for larger donors to come
       | on board.
        
         | bilal4hmed wrote:
         | They are a non profit, they just havent released their numbers
         | in a few years
         | https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/824...
        
         | JackGreyhat wrote:
         | Check signal's homepage. At the bottom, it says "Signal, a
         | 501c3 nonprofit". Is that what you mean?
        
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       (page generated 2021-12-01 23:02 UTC)