Is RCS an open standard? I’ve seen some people say it is and others it isn’t and now I’m very confused. Can you please give me a definitive answer?

  • nudny ekscentryk@szmer.infoEnglish
    11·
    9 months ago

    Yes it is, it’s been developed by the GSM Association, but Google does have de facto monopoly in the market right now by their Jio Jibe virtual carrier. RCS can be freely implemented by carriers and device manufacturers independently of that, but so far only Samsung, T-Mobile USA and Verizon did so — everyone else uses Google’s Messages. Importantly, different RCS implementations can talk to each other, just like email servers, or Lemmy instances.

    Apple has been encouraged to enable RCS compatibility in iMessage in a loud campaign by Google, but they are obviously not very eager to do that, as their own research shows the closedness of Apple ecosystem and messaging system is a main driving factor of sales. This has been revealed in the Apple vs Epic Games case hearings

  • danhakimi@kbin.social
    9·
    9 months ago

    It’s kind of open. It’s pretty much open for carriers to implement on the server side, and for OEMs to develop on the client side. There is an open source client in AOSP’s RCS Test App, but for one reason or another, as far as I know nobody’s attempted to implement it in an actual usable client app. I don’t believe there’s a server reference implementation. And, in the US, all the carriers’ RCS services are run exclusively by Google, so there’s no real point in attempting to set up your own server. Apple might be able to navigate the politics with carriers and with Google to make something work, if it wants to, but it’s really not a standard for us to play with.

    Use Matrix Instead.

  • Suzune@ani.socialEnglish
    4·
    9 months ago

    It may be open as concerns specs, but in most countries you’ll pay much for using provider services instead of internet.

    On the other hand it’s closed, because no one except big mobile comms can offer this service. It’s better to avoid it. The only way to have free communication standards is to use the good old internet instead of the infrastructure of the provider.