A level-headed analysis by Drew DeVault.

I still use and recommend Signal knowing full well that we need to find a decentralised replacement to it eventually.

Perhaps Matrix will develop into that replacement. Or for more familial needs, perhaps even Nextcloud Talk can work?

Good to see Nature making this point, although this argument is hardly new.

If you like your arguments in long-form, why not read In the Beginning was the Command Line by Neal Stephenson from 1999 (yes, it's old, but well worth a read).

Interestingly, the command line being great does not make the alternative fairly OK. It's much worse than that (that is an article by Ben Klemens from about a decade ago, original URL has unfortunately succumbed to linkrot, but I had it saved on my Wallabag).