Future Messenger

Are you satisfied with the current situation with the means of communication? The usual wired phone has already been forgotten, because everyone has a cell phone for calls and SMS, however for long-distance calls it is cheaper to use instant messengers, which are also more functional. And here comes the first problem: your friends are scattered in different messengers and social networks, you have to either make efforts to agitate others, or start a zoo uchetok and applications. And, I almost forgot about email.

An uncomfortable situation isn’t it? But everything can be changed.

Monotonous set

To date, the messenger has not made himself just lazy. Everything is clear with social networks, they needed to organize communication of their users. Next, Skype, which slowly languishes in the shadow of Microsoft. At one time, the swift Whatsup, Vibur spammed, the phishing Snapchat. A bunch of small handicrafts with an emphasis on encryption and rapidly breaking out Telegram. The loser of Google, who brought the truly revolutionary product of Google Wave too early, but shamefully betrayed it without receiving a quick return, now has swung towards primitivism creating emasculated Hello and Duo. Pay attention to the Russian telecom operators - each has its own instant messenger. It is clear that this is an attempt to delay the inevitable and she would have succeeded if everyone did not pull the blanket over himself.

Very clearly occupied its niche Slack, this is a great solution for small development teams, although there are many competing solutions. Chinese WeChat should be an icon of American and European instant messengers. Vrez created a whole infrastructure for communications and business, capturing part of the offline processes.

Despite the differences, modern messengers are the same. Each developer wants to achieve a monopoly position, “capture all humans”, control and manage them. But think about what the attempts to create another messenger will lead to, which will be 15% more encrypted, 3% more usable, etc. How will this help solve the problems of users or will advance the society to the next stage of development?

Needs

So,

• People need to communicate, and not only with those who are near, but also with those who are very far away.
  
• In different situations, it is convenient to talk with text, voice or video, but it is more comfortable to use one tool.
  
• Communication is very important, but to pay for this is somehow a lot of money no one wants.
  
• Many people are tired of migrating from one messenger to another and holding several communication channels at once.
  
• And how much you can fear that your favorite messenger will also begin to actively monetize or ban comrades from the authorities.
  

What do we have, well, apart from signal bonfires, drums, morse code? Telephony, as it were, is still hearty, but is dying out. Email was invented half a century ago. All this time she coped well with the responsibilities assigned to her, but the post office does not meet the requirements of modern times. Jabber somehow did not work out, for obvious reasons. All popular instant messengers are in private hands and have a significant basic flaw - they are not friendly with each other, thereby restricting the freedom of communication between users.

I demand independence

I want to use the messenger. It's comfortable. But personally I am tired of searching for disparate contacts in a heap of all kinds of programs with different interfaces. I hate spam and I want to quickly find accurate information when I need it, I do not like to spend my life on the current fuss with that clod of useless information that modernity imposes.

It is very important for me to have a way of communication that is independent of the commercial interests of individuals or structures. This method should be as simple and comfortable as possible to solve my daily personal tasks, as well as the tasks of my business.

Various attempts are being made in this direction, which is very pleasing, but there, everything is either difficult for the average user or still very damp. Developers of messengers and other interested parties should cooperate and spend a little more effort than usual to create a new communication system for humanity that will last several decades, until the basic Internet protocols change or its alternative appears.

Fly above the blue dragon

Before embarking on a new project, even if it is just a tent on the market, I recommend to rise above the situation and see it from other people's points of view. Moreover, look at the entire food chain, honestly admit to yourself where you are in it. Pay attention to finding a real, sometimes hidden need. For a while, you should forget about any restrictions, imagine that you can find the right amount of funds and employees. Read something that you usually do not read (but on the topic), watch movies.

In this case, I recommend to get acquainted with the materials about Wechat, this is the messenger and social network and the trading platform and workspace. If you are not caught by logic, then try to feel, for example, watch the show Startup. If in the first season they tried to swim out on dzhenkocoats, then in the second they created an environment in which this money will circulate, i.e. supersystem and won. Looks like Paul watched this show to the end :)

So, if you have understood the situation and you have a Vision, then begin to formulate it. There is such a thing as personal competence. It, as a rule, is always lacking. Sometimes you saw and fell in love with your idea. At the same time, no logic and no opinions stop you, you are burning. In fact, this is not bad. Most likely, then you will look back and laugh at yourself. This means your competence has grown. The most important thing here is the fact that you overcame yourself and tried. On the other hand, what if you guessed it and everything coincides as it should, like-minded people and necessary resources will appear, and users will begin to worship you?

Properties of the perfect messenger

To invent the perfect messenger you need to understand why and for whom we are doing it. The task is set as follows: to create a universal communication tool for simple communication, information sharing, entertainment, consumption and collaboration. Moreover, this tool should not belong to one company. Moreover, the tasks and tastes of people and groups are different, respectively, and the tools (messengers) may be different. However, all of them should freely exchange information among themselves.

Good news, to solve this problem does not need a revolution. For example, Google Wave was an awesome product, but it scared ordinary users. To get a working product, you need to properly collect the experience of mankind and a little “modify the file”. For example, addressing by type of email based on DNS is quite suitable. At the same time, what is important, we can smoothly transfer people from e-mail to the transfer of messages, calls and video calls. Those. communications between people who have set themselves a universal messenger are carried out according to a new protocol, and with those who have an email server there is only correspondence.

How to make a universal communication protocol

In fact, there are enough resources in the world to make life on earth beautiful for everyone, the problem is that money and efforts are not coordinated and are not spent in optimal directions, we omit the details, because this alone will draw on the volume of war and peace.

Let's discuss how a universal communication protocol can be made. This could be done by a private corporation. For example, Google. They have an almost unlimited amount of finances, collected some of the best minds of the planet, have access to billions of users. But Google is too big office already overgrown with bureaucracy, so I do not know how to bring this idea to them. Apple is too busy with narcissism, and Amazon will want to maximize profits and spoil the idea. From the Russian do not even know the right. Yandex has changed for the worse after it squeezed its founders, and the mail was always like that. Telegram has everything so good, it goes its own way. Telecom operators also do not fit into the image of those who can make open systems. I am sure there are several hundreds of suitable candidates in the world among commercial companies that can cope with this task, but so far I don’t know them (I hope in the comments share your assumptions).

Making the project funded by the state seems very difficult without personal contact with high-ranking officials, although technology is strategic and success in this area is comparable to taking all the gold in the Olympics.

Suppose we want to create omega messages by community forces. Here, all the same you need to have a core of developers who will be busy in the project for a full day. We'll have to search for funding anyway, which in itself is something else.

It seems the situation is stalemate, but it is not. The main thing is to divide it into parts. First you need to do a prototype-imitation and test the idea from the point of view of users and business users. Those. implement it with limited functionality in hundreds of other companies. For them, it will be the same e-mail, but with an internal messenger. After a short time, enough material will be collected to confirm the hypothesis or its processing. The main work will begin in the second stage. It will be necessary not only to make the declared functionality, but to write it beautifully, because programmers are very picky about someone else's code. Developing standards that developers around the world can and will want to use is also not an easy task. The project needs nuggets, albeit unknown unrecognized geniuses who can create optimal concepts and architecture and experienced professionals who are able to complete the work in a short time.

Start

The last couple of years I have been sitting and waiting, well, when will the open protocol appear, because the problem of communications is as relevant as ever and its solution is obvious. No, companies continue to sculpt all the new messengers in the hope of randomly winning the favor of the audience and defeating the giants. I'm tired of waiting and starting to do at least something to solve this problem. And I want to find people who will also think, and who if not us will be involved in the work? You can continue to wait until someone brings a ready-made solution on a platter, but will this solution be really good?

In order to make a final decision on the launch of the project, I need to find at least a couple of like-minded people who understand the essence and believe in the idea. Further it will be easier. I plan to assemble a small group and make a simplified prototype of omega-messages: a server, a web client and an application for android; plus integration with e-mail. Then I test on my clients. And, if the practice confirms the usefulness and viability of the idea, we will move on.

Please respond to people who see the usefulness of open messages to the public and are ready to work on the project. We also need investors who are not averse to organizing a business around a new communications technology. After all, open messages are a new round of technologies and opportunities. This is almost a field of plowed in which all developments from sites, services, and applications will urgently be transferred. In the new environment will require search engines, games and entertainment, markets and payment systems. There will be many new players from those who will first enter the new market and will be able to quickly provide new services or integrate communications into their products. To be the first one, one must stand at the origins and make a certain contribution to the development and popularization of the undertaking.

I am sure, after reading this article, you will have a sea of ​​emotions. I would like to hear statements about the very idea of ​​a universal means of communication. Share what you personally do not like in modern communications, what would you like for yourself and for the company in which you work.