Subj : topics.. let's hear your ideas.
To   : Nil Alexandrov
From : August Abolins
Date : Wed Apr 03 2019 07:15 pm

Hello Nil!

** 03.04.19 - 19:01, Nil Alexandrov wrote to August Abolins:

> The whole world has moved from desktops and laptops towards mobile
> gadgets for most of the daily tasks including reading news and all those  
> online social network activities. IMHO the first priority in attracting  
> new people to the net would be to have user friendly apps for iOS and
> Android plus the way to synchronize across multiple devices.

I've heard of something called Aftershock (see Google Play Store).  I've  
seen its use by several people in these echos.  Also, there is the fidonet  
echo AFTERSHOCK specifically about it.  I've seen some recent postings in  
there.


> It would not be convenient to have separate point addresses for your
> desktop/iPad/phone and you should be able to seamlessly move across
> them, say start reading on your iPad and pick up where you left on your  
> phone on your commute to work, once you are at
> your desk it would be nice to open up a desktop/laptop browser version of
> the Fidonet reader to continue on a bigger screen.

Personnally, I don't see the practicality of this communication on small  
smartphone screens.   I considered trying Aftershock on my Blackberry  Z10  
but then backed off.  Typing messages on that thing would be nuts.

You make a contradiction.  First you mention that "the world has moved  
away from desktops and laptops", but then you want features to sync  
fidonet to a laptop/desktop.   I believe that laptops/desktops (ie devices  
with larger screens) will still have usefulness.

The syncing part sounds interesting.  Maybe you could achieve a modest  
solution with a point installation on a portable thumbdrive?


> UTF-8 support which adds
> all those emoji and the possibility to mix different languages in one
> message would be pretty much standard thing to expect from todays app.

...or those things are so distinctive to the internet and the forum-style  
of posts that they are better to run away from?  ;)


> Here and there we can see people are trying to embed some multimedia
> content. There are a few options like posting an URL in the text with
> or without framing, insert an uuencode file or having a fileecho as a
> carrier. This would be the bare minimum to start with to reach out for
> new members (or bring back -exs).

I am not sure what to say about that.  Anyone else want to jump in?   
Fidonet does have a large file exchange network already in place.  It may  
not be wise to expect file attachments in public messages that are  
duplicated across multiple systems.  A link to a file in cloud storage  
would be more practicle.

Regards,
  ../|ug

--- OpenXP 5.0.36
 * Origin: /|ug's Point, ONT, CANADA (2:221/1.58)

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