Disqus - Latest Comments for ianbetteridge

Re: Apple has no incentive to make iMessage work better with Android

Ian Betteridge — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 07:53:30 -0000

Unlikely. To be honest, I think Apple *will* eventually adopt RCS as a replacement for/upgrade to its support for SMS and MMS, as it gets more carrier support. But it won’t adopt anyone else’s proprietary standards, which means those messages will be unencrypted and still show as green bubbles.

Re: Apple has no incentive to make iMessage work better with Android

Ian Betteridge — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 07:25:58 -0000

I don’t think Google really cares if Apple adopts its encryption standard. What Google wants is for Apple to support RCS so it has a larger audience for RCS ads, which it can sell to its real customers – advertisers.

Re: Apple has no incentive to make iMessage work better with Android

Ian Betteridge — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 04:19:30 -0000

I don’t disagree with that. Not do I disagree with Google extending it - but I do object to the myth that Google is being any more “open”, or that Apple could or should just adopt a competitor’s proprietary standard.

Re: Apple has no incentive to make iMessage work better with Android

Ian Betteridge — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 04:17:25 -0000

Nope. But that’s a years-long process.

Re: Apple has no incentive to make iMessage work better with Android

Ian Betteridge — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 03:20:08 -0000

No. Encryption is not part of the RCS standard at all. What Google has built is proprietary encryption on top of RCS. It's no more open than iMessage.

Re: Apple has no incentive to make iMessage work better with Android

Ian Betteridge — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 03:19:05 -0000

The carriers can't support Google's encryption. It is not an open standard.

Re: Apple has no incentive to make iMessage work better with Android

Ian Betteridge — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 03:18:26 -0000

For the 100000th time: RCS does not support E2E encryption. Google has added its own proprietary extensions to RCS for it. It is only supported by the Messages app.

Re: Apple has no incentive to make iMessage work better with Android

Ian Betteridge — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 03:16:44 -0000

I'm not sure why anyone wouldn't want a message to go through if you're in the position of no data. Suppose you're trying to send an important message to your family - why wouldn't you want to do that immediately?

Re: Apple has no incentive to make iMessage work better with Android

Ian Betteridge — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 03:15:39 -0000

Google has no interest in "fixing" RCS for the same reasons Apple has no interest in adopting it. Allowing businesses to create spam... sorry, "rich advertising"... is the reason Google wants everyone on RCS. It's about doing what's profitable for Google, not doing the best for users.

Re: Apple has no incentive to make iMessage work better with Android

Ian Betteridge — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 03:13:47 -0000

"Embrace and extend" is exactly what Google is doing with RCS, my friend. Embrace the standard: add your own proprietary extensions to it, as it's doing with encryption.

Re: Apple has no incentive to make iMessage work better with Android

Ian Betteridge — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 03:12:47 -0000

The RCS standard isn't encrypted. Those are proprietary extensions which Google owns and controls. It can't read your messages, but because it runs its own servers it knows who you message and how often. That's a powerful piece of data when combined with everything else it knows about you, because it can know who your closest relationships are with, who your social groups are, and so on.

Re: Apple has no incentive to make iMessage work better with Android

Ian Betteridge — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 03:10:06 -0000

End to end encryption is not part of the RCS standard. It's a proprietary extension which only works with Google's servers and only with Google's Messages app. Claiming it's open is like claiming iMessage is open because it is "built on top of SMS".

Re: Apple has no incentive to make iMessage work better with Android

Ian Betteridge — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 03:07:08 -0000

Google's encryption extensions to RCS (it's not part of the actual RCS standard) only support encrypted one to one messages on a single device.

Re: Apple has no incentive to make iMessage work better with Android

Ian Betteridge — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 03:05:55 -0000

The RCS standard does not support end to end encryption, at all. What does is the proprietary extensions Google has built on top of RCS, which are only supported in Google Messages. So what you're asking Apple to do is adopt an encryption system which they don't own and which is not open sourced. In other words: handing control over messaging standards over to Google.

If you think Apple will do that, ever, you don't know Apple. And if you believe Apple *should* do that, you don't know Google.

Google wants to push RCS adoption for one reason: it gives them another advertising platform. It's not about being "good for consumers", it's about being good for advertisers.

Re: 'Sadiq Khan wants to scrap diesel cars that he and Labour helped put on the road'

Ian Betteridge — Fri, 03 Mar 2017 05:55:18 -0000

And a 50 mile round trip on motorways is exactly where a diesel is still the better option. The big issue with diesel is people using them for short all-urban trips: that's where the potential for lower air quality overrides the lower carbon emissions you'll get from a good Diesel engine. As often happens, it's all about choosing the right engine for the kind of driving you most commonly do.

Re: Project Ara: Google’s modular smartphone isn’t half as exciting as we thought it would be

Ian Betteridge — Tue, 24 May 2016 04:20:34 -0000

I think you're missing one essential point: more people will stretch the capabilities of their smartphone.

Re: Bad jokes, silly products, and John Sculley grinning: welcome to the worst Apple video in history

Ian Betteridge — Tue, 10 May 2016 11:55:35 -0000

Don't worry - Microsoft's day will come...

Re: iPad Pro 9.7 review: The best tablet you’ll ever use

Ian Betteridge — Wed, 06 Apr 2016 10:50:20 -0000

Ha! That is a very very good point. I'm kind of hoping you're right too :)

Re: iPad Pro 9.7 review: The best tablet you’ll ever use

Ian Betteridge — Wed, 06 Apr 2016 10:49:53 -0000

I own a MacBook too, and (although this is off topic) since I got the big iPad Pro (12.9in) I've used it a lot less. It's no longer the machine I bring to work, and it's not the device I use much at home. Subjectively, the iPad Pro is also quicker - the 9.7in version might not be (thanks to having "only" 2Gb RAM).

Re: iPad Pro 9.7 review: The best tablet you’ll ever use

Ian Betteridge — Wed, 06 Apr 2016 10:48:17 -0000

Well, no. The cheapest i7-equipped Surface Pro 4 (plus Type Cover) will cost you over £1400, which is about £400 more than the most expensive 9.7in iPad Pro, which is fare enough as I don't think they're in the same category. Surface Book - remember once you take it out of the keyboard you lose the discreet GPU anyway, and it's just not as good a tablet, despite costing even more money. It's a good product, but it's a better laptop than tablet.

The proper comparison - and the one I make - is with the Surface 3, which is cheaper (yay!) but really not as good (boo!). You pays your money...

Re: iPad Pro 9.7 review: The best tablet you’ll ever use

Ian Betteridge — Wed, 06 Apr 2016 10:39:00 -0000

Remember the days when the first question on any post about a new device on Slashdot was "But does it run Linux?".

Re: iPad Pro 9.7 review: The best tablet you’ll ever use

Ian Betteridge — Wed, 06 Apr 2016 10:38:31 -0000

I can only point you to my review of the Surface Pro 4, which I gave a higher rating to than this iPad: http://www.alphr.com/micros...

Is the Surface Pro 4 a better device? Yes, it's a great device for someone who wants a Windows PC that's also a good tablet. Is it a better *tablet*? No.

Re: iPad Pro 9.7 review: The best tablet you’ll ever use

Ian Betteridge — Wed, 06 Apr 2016 10:36:56 -0000

You do know that I mention the Surface 3 in the conclusion, don't you? :)

Re: iPad Pro 9.7 review: The best tablet you’ll ever use

Ian Betteridge — Wed, 06 Apr 2016 10:36:28 -0000

The entire Windows application list... Most of which work pretty badly on HiDPI screens, and support touch events even more poorly. Unless of course they're Universal apps, in which case there's less of them than iOS.

Don't get me wrong, the Surface Pro 4 is a great device (after all, I gave it five stars here http://www.alphr.com/micros..., but the idea that the vast range of Win32 apps offers any real advantage to a tablet is wrong.

Re: Stubborn old people who want to leave the EU are condemning the rest to a lifetime of uncertainty

Ian Betteridge — Wed, 30 Mar 2016 08:49:20 -0000

The only abusive people I'm seeing on this article seem to be older ones shouting abuse at the young.