Subj : topics.. let's hear your ideas.
To : August Abolins
From : Nil Alexandrov
Date : Thu Apr 04 2019 03:39 am
Hello, August!
Wednesday April 03 2019 19:15, from August Abolins -> Nil Alexandrov:
AA> I've heard of something called Aftershock (see Google Play Store).
AA> I've seen its use by several people in these echos. Also, there is
AA> the fidonet echo AFTERSHOCK specifically about it. I've seen some
AA> recent postings in there.
Aftershock is the Android only app and is not free. HotdogEd on the other
hand has more features and is totally free for FTN usage (there is a paid
NNTP module). That being said, none of these apps are available for iOS means
iPhone and iPad. Also, I would like to stress out that both of them are
written by tech folks, software engineers with no dedicated UI design person
on the team. It makes the app way less approachable to just regular users and
not geeks.
AA> Personnally, I don't see the practicality of this communication on
AA> small smartphone screens. I considered trying Aftershock on my
AA> Blackberry Z10 but then backed off. Typing messages on that thing
AA> would be nuts.
It's hard to find a smartphone with the screen size smaller than 5" and ne
models are above 6". iPads and tablets are used for comfortable web surfing
and definitely exceed the typical Fidonet 80x25 textmode messages browsing.
AA> You make a contradiction. First you mention that "the world has moved
AA> away from desktops and laptops", but then you want features to sync
AA> fidonet to a laptop/desktop. I believe that laptops/desktops (ie
AA> devices with larger screens) will still have usefulness.
My point is that phones and tables are mostly used for personal mail reading,
Internet surfing and video on demand watching (youtube, Netflix, Amazon prime,
etc.). It's what in your pocket and is always available when you have some
spare time or during commute. Desktops and mostly laptops are what people use
at work and also to browse news and stuff around lunchtime. Here I'm listing
the real use cases when you might take a minute or more to check your fido
echomail.
AA> The syncing part sounds interesting. Maybe you could achieve a modest
AA> solution with a point installation on a portable thumbdrive?
The synchronization feature was actually asked by many users here in R50 but
the design is stil an open question.
AA> ..or those things are so distinctive to the internet and the
AA> forum-style of posts that they are better to run away from? ;)
Unicode and what comes with it is not the WEB 2.0 or Internet forums peculiars
but the real necessity for text copy & paste from other sources. I can hardly
every post my text from an external editor which brings all these ',",-
