Cool idea for Bitchat, hear me out!
First let's talk about DeltaChat, because it's very inspired by it. It's basically an SMTP+IMAP based chat app (similar to Signal or WhatsApp) that works over e-mail (either your existing e-mail account, usually different folder, or a dedicated account). Group chat is a mailing list with Cc:. It automatically discovers PGP keys. People who don't use DeltaChat yet see everything as e-mail. Not many people know about this chat, but it's federated and basically lives on top of existing protocol already.
But I want to talk about something else that could put Bitchat to the next level. They have created a super cool way to create in-chat apps. It's basically a self-contained (offline capable!) web page. It can interact with the group or other person by a few javascript functions, which allow it to send an update.
So you can have a small HTML poll app. Everyone who votes on a pool just clicks in the app, the app sends e-mail to all the group members to update how the person voted. The order of the messages is not guaranteed. But this is the only type of interaction allowed. It's a zip with HTML and JS/CSS/images. And a way to send and receive messages through the messaging protocol.
Want to bitchat-bootstrap bitcoin economy? Drop a self-contained Cashu wallet interacting with the mint through Bitchat.
Need an interactive map with coercive forces during a protest? Drop a map app and all the "I saw an anti-protest police force here" pins appear on the map, like magic.
It already works async. It does not talk to the internet and it can't talk to the internet. Only through messages.
It is an open standard.
The only thing - it does not fit well with the user interface.
The standard here:
Here's the basic example:
It's literally 6 functions that are implemented by the JavaScript API and rendering of the self-contained app.
Here you have some apps that would instantly work:
All this would work within the mesh network!
Cc: jack calle