#Signal took a huge bet that running on US big-tech toxic infrastructure is fine because its groundbreaking and industry-shaping cryptography is crafted to neutralize it and keep users safe.
But is it really feasible to live on toxic infrastructure in the longer run?
#deltachat rather takes a bet on the massive e-mail server network and interoperable protocols, and on #chatmail servers which enforce message encryption and metadata-minimization.
Delta is for when centralization turns sour.
#deltachat Desktop can now run on Firefox and Safari, entirely avoiding Electron and Chromium! It's an intended side-effect of the "porting Desktop to Tauri" effort led by @treefit which aims to provide a non-Electron packaged version of the Desktop. Here is a video and deep dive into what's working on regular browsers now, and what's missing for a full Web version: https://delta.chat/en/2025-05-22-browser-edition
Some people in #Iran successfully use delta with national email providers when outside Internet is cut.
#deltachat designs are #OfflineFirst using delay tolerant protocols. Messages are queued when a path is blocked. email servers are made for this and run at planetary scale.
Messages crossing the border may arrive three days later but they arrive.
Peoples can stay in private touch across time and space, to the extent possible in current breakdown times. Which is what delta is about.
We are basically doing what #signal and in particular moxie refused to do or declares impossible: federation.
Both #email and #activitypub ecosystems are all about federation.
However, #deltachat is vertically centralized in that all UIs use the same #rust core which implements all networking, encryption, chat/group/message logic in a single centralized place. The now 40+ #chatmail mail relay network is driven from centralized code.
At each level replication and federation is built in.
