Re:Beeper – Moving Forward
by quadrifoliate on Thursday December 21, 2023 @02:08PM
(#38725212)
I also love being a green bubble, and telling people to use one of the several other secure, cross-platform messengers. I would personally never use Beeper Mini, because anyone in my social circle who cares about "blue bubbles" would be mocked mercilessly.
But I also hear all these stories about kids being bullied for having Android phones, and see Apple executives talking about locking entire families into the iPhone ecosystem using iMessage [1] on that basis.
To me, this is pretty evil, monopolistic behavior which needs to be regulated out of existence. I'm glad Beeper is bringing it to light. The fact that it doesn't affect me personally is unimportant.
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[1] https://twitter.com/TechEmails/status/1589450766506692609/ph...
Re:Beeper – Moving Forward
by freedomben on Thursday December 21, 2023 @02:21PM
(#38725395)
Agree completely. My kids are facing this now. The bullying is obscene and ridiculous, and very real.
Re:Beeper – Moving Forward
by heavyset_go on Thursday December 21, 2023 @05:42PM
(#38728134)
> My kids are facing this now. The bullying is obscene and ridiculous, and very real.
The worst part is that the company knows about this and could simply end it by changing a single color in their app.
Re:Beeper – Moving Forward
by rootusrootus on Thursday December 21, 2023 @09:17PM
(#38730133)
My kids are facing this now and it doesn't seem to even exist. Some of them have Android phones, and they're still friends. My daughter doesn't even want an iPhone because she figures I will have more parental control over it than I would an Android phone.
Re:Beeper – Moving Forward
by freedomben on Friday December 22, 2023 @10:55AM
(#38735324)
This strikes me as much the same argument as "racism doesn't exist because I haven't seen it"
Green bubbles are not just "a broke Android user" even though the Apple masses like to spread that image.
Green bubbles are a sign of a technological badass, a power user who does things with their devices that Big Gray doesn't think they should be able to. It's the sign of a person who thinks lock-in strategies are gross and an anti-pattern, and is principled enough to vote with their wallet. It's the sign of a non-conformist, a free thinker who makes their own decisions, rather than following the group-thinking masses. A green bubble is the badge of honor that identifies a person who thinks differently.
In the end, Apple's strategy will probably win because Machiavellianism works, but that doesn't mean we can't give it a hell of a good run.