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Are you interested in enshittification-resistant application development?

After almost two years of collaboration with the wonderful @n0iroh team, we are happy to announce that #deltachat 1.48 apps on all platforms contain top-notch Peer-to-Peer networking support, including hole-punching and forward-secret end-to-end encryption. It is exposed through the new #webxdc realtime APIs and there are some nice initial showcase apps 🎉

delta.chat/en/2024-11-20-webxd…

This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to Delta Chat

this marks a radical change and a whole new world of possibilities openi👾
in reply to dbat :godot:

@dbat if I got it correctly the connection is directly between peers when possible, relays are used only when it is not possible to stablish a direct connection, which is the same for virtually any other #p2p app out there with the use of STUN/TURN servers, etc

@delta @n0iroh

in reply to adb

@adbenitez Thanks. I didn't get that from their site. Not that i know what stun and such is.

It sounds like a clever and important project, i wish they could illustrate the process in a clear way.

@adb
in reply to dbat :godot:

@dbat @adbenitez both STUN and TURN (see post for links) are used to facilitate a P2P device2device connection. It is similar conceptually how WebRTC works, which establishes peer to peer connections in web browsers. However, a webxdc app developer does not need to deal with any of this. This is very different from WebRTC API in browsers. Webxdc.joinRealtimeChannel() is a very simple high level API. We care for all the gory details of connection management. Hope this helps a bit
in reply to Delta Chat

Hey, thanks for the reply. I will try to understand it; and I have a suggestion for you.

Have you seen the Alice and Bob style of illustrations used in cryptographic circles?

Like en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public-k…

If you could illustrate delta-chat similar to that, it would make it easier (at least for newbs like me) to grasp what you are offering.

Otherwise it just looks like yet another chat app with some weird voodoo attached.

🦇

in reply to dbat :godot:

@dbat sure. Maybe a video is a good form for visualizing what happens? We are not really into video production so any help there appreciated. Our post was mostly geared towards curious users or would be users, and then to developers who might join #webxdc app developments because that is what all users benefit from immeditatly.

Fyi we are operating on a shoe-string budget and up against corporations with deep pockets with marketing/outreach departments outnumbering all our development teams.

in reply to Delta Chat

Oh sure, I can appreciate that.

I was only trying to support you. My feedback would be that, for whatever reasons, my brain could not parse the unique "thing" that you are working so hard towards.

It's a lot to take-in and illustrations are very helpful for that. You need not make a video, just try to diagram the process from Bob to Alice (or however it applies.)

I would be happy to help. If you make rough diagrams, I can make SVGs in Inkscape.

🦇

in reply to dbat :godot:

@dbat no question we are asking a lot of our readers. We'll see what we can do for illustrations or according input..thanks for the offer!
in reply to Delta Chat

Sounds really cool. It is really a pity that delta chat doesn't seem to get much adoption. (At least I don't know anyone who uses it.)

@n0iroh

@iroh
in reply to Ditol

@ditol yes, network effects are a known problem. Ultimately adoptions depends on people finding good reasons -- today's realtime-P2P feature is maybe well on a path of providing good reasons to giving things a try for particular purposes (e.g. some families do shopping/to-do lists and really like it etc.)
in reply to Delta Chat

@hpk Great work, congrats on getting this out into the world!