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Congrats on the launch of Signal 2.0. I hope it'll be a popular app, but I have a question slightly off topic: Why can't we get an app like Signal for the desktop? Yes, I'm aware there are alternatives for the desktop (mainly Pidgin + OTR), but none of them work like Signal does (ease of use) and frankly I don't really trust using them. I'd like to think I'm ignorant on the subject and there's a good alternative out there, and if so, please do tell.

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That's currently in the works as a browser extension: https://github.com/whispersystems/textsecure-browser

You can keep track of its progress there :).

Yeah, I'm aware of that, but doesn't that require a smartphone with TextSecure installed? I don't own a smartphone. (I accept that I'm a weirdo.)

No, just requires a phone number. It's still under development, but if you're curious you can check out install instructions here: https://github.com/WhisperSystems/TextSecure-Browser/blob/ma...

Huh, I didn't know that. Thanks for the link.

But I wonder if it's a good idea. You know, JavaScript/in-browser crypto being considered harmful and all that...

All the protocols for Signal / TextSecure are open source. Seems like people will probably implement desktop clients at some point, which would be really nice.

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