I think telegram is one of the operating systems of the future, most just haven't realized it yet.<p>Using their API and System to develop apps is a breath of fresh air after years of bad and broken web APIs, non portable and cluttered native GUI frameworks, and app development riddled with incidental complexity.<p>They give you everything you need, including payment, custom keyboards, embedded media, room access. But in a super straightforward simple way.
It's just ridiculous how quickly you can iterate on apps that use telegram as their frontend, so much cuft is left behind.<p>Telegram allows you to write apps that solve real needs, in a humane way.
And as a dev that gives me hope that our industry isn't lost just yet.
The coolest thing about Telegram?<p>Its Windows Desktop app is portable. Por-ta-ble. Fucking portable. Nothing to install, it can run off a USB stick or a folder in the PC.
Running ads won't cover their expenses.<p>Telegram's server costs are massive. They store all messages, unlike whatsapp and signal, which only act as a relay.<p>Telegram has much higher file limits (2GB per file and unlimited files) than all other apps. It's used a lot by pirates to share movies and shows. Basically every show comes on some channel/group in Telegram.
I'm looking forward to this. I use Telegram everyday to communicate with friends and family and Durov is giving me trust that he isn't going to ruin the app.