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For most people it's far easier to just install an app instead of going through a whole setup and registration process and remembering a login handle and a password. I have a lot non-geek friends who are happy with how WhatsApp works. They mostly ignore all privacy issues with this.

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I'm not really directing this critique to WhatsApp users, rather to WhatsApp authors, who exploit users' comfort of no configuration vs one time configuration / registration, while causing with that a proliferation of walled networks. They are not doing a good service to users at large.

One time configuration / registration is not really a burden. All users are familial with that process. And they don't do it each time they read their e-mail for example. As I said, the negative impact of non interoperability proliferation is way more significant.

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