How to gain official status for Mitakuuluu (Whatsapp client) [answered]
Question about the best ways to get Whatsapp team (Facebook Inc.) to grant an official status for Sailfish OS client Mitakuuluu. Any suggestions for possible solution as answers, please. And let's keep up with the openness and Open Source ideology on this!
Background:
- Few days ago Whatsapp has started banning Mitakuuluu user's phone numbers of using their services, considering Mitakuuluu as an unofficial client
- The client is used by many Jolla owners, as there's no other Sailfish OS native clien available
- This client can't enter to Jolla Store, partly because of the unofficial status. People would love to see either this, or another official client available (unofficial client is currently available at OpenRepos)
- Mitakuuluu is a great client, some people mention it as one of the best Whatsapp clients they've used
based on their past behavior (wa+fb) i don't think they will ever accept a 3rd party foss app as their official client.
nightmare ( 2014-11-01 17:16:31 +0200 )editQuote from Whatsapp official site: "Let's make WhatsApp available to everyone in the world!"
Whatsapp is also bragging about their work on Open Source projects. Maybe enough of right kind of public efforts would have a positive effect, worth trying at least?
simo ( 2014-11-01 17:24:06 +0200 )editI agree with @nightmare, but this episode looks like it was a protocol problem, rather than them actively (or passively) banning people using a 3rd party client on Sailfish. If they had wanted to stop all use of 3rd party clients, I'm sure they could have done so by now, and easily. Honestly doubt they'll make it a no-go ... they may not want to encourage it, but on the other hand they won't want to drive people away. Marketshare is everything to FB.
midnightoil ( 2014-11-01 18:45:40 +0200 )editThere is no official Whatsapp client for the Firefox OS, another Linux kernel-based open-source operating system for smartphones and tablet computers. Instead, the company justapps4all.com created an app called ConnectA2, which is a Whatsapp compatible client. This can be downloaded from the Firefox OS app store. Surely, if this is possible, then the same should be possible for Mitakuuluu? Maybe it is even possible for justapps4all.com to recompile ConnectA2 for Sailfish OS, considering they are both Linux based and Opensource…?
Alfa2600 ( 2014-11-01 23:21:40 +0200 )editI think that WA should embrace Mitakuuluu, pay Coderus for his efforts, and launch officially in the Jolla store. Maybe Jolla needs to play a role in bringing this about.
Alternatively, WA can develop and publish their own native app...
bilgy_no1 ( 2014-11-02 10:59:58 +0200 )edit