> and the only alternative he mentioned is a half broken clone.
Sorry but you've got that backwards. He doesn't propose using that, he mentions OpenWhisperSystems banned them from using the service. It's criticism towards Signal, not a product recommendation.
> my current phone doesn't support Signal
I think it's Signal not supporting your phone, not the other way around. The manufacturer probably didn't make a conscious choice to not support Signal, but depending on what the issue is exactly, Signal probably did.
> OpenWhisperSystems banned them from using the service
Nobody has been banned from anything. People have been politely asked not to distribute 3rd-party builds of Signal using their name and their servers, and that's it.
I think the name is plenty different, nobody will mistake LibreSignal as being the same as Signal. That's as if Microsoft goes LibreOffice and OpenOffice are trademark infringements of Office (insofar as you can trademark the word "office" anyway).
As for the politely asking, yeah that is still banning. If you banish someone from a country, they can still physically walk into the country. They're just not allowed to.
I think you are mistaking my choice of words for a lack of understanding, but I do understand. The author makes no recommendation _outside_ of Signal related products.
Sorry but you've got that backwards. He doesn't propose using that, he mentions OpenWhisperSystems banned them from using the service. It's criticism towards Signal, not a product recommendation.
> my current phone doesn't support Signal
I think it's Signal not supporting your phone, not the other way around. The manufacturer probably didn't make a conscious choice to not support Signal, but depending on what the issue is exactly, Signal probably did.