Without the optimizations added since 2016, it is not a great protocol for mobile devices, but only because mobile devices are stupid and equate a background TCP connection with something bad and battery-heavy. That means they make it much more difficult (or impossible re: iOS) to do so.
That means apple & google are effectively dictating how you can use TCP (i.e. not outside of HTTP and friends), and everything is now terrible.
> That means apple & google are effectively dictating how you can use TCP (i.e. not outside of HTTP and friends), and everything is now terrible.
Ok, but this is our reality. Windows has been the dominant desktop OS since 1995 or so (and MS-DOS was the one from 1985 until 1995 or so, from the same company).
Linux has been dominating the server space since about 2005 or so.
iOS and Android have dominated the mobile since about 2010.
I'm not holding my breath for any of these OSes disappearing from their niches before I die...
I am not holding my breath either, and as I said, there are plenty of protocol optimizations which have been made to fit into that terrible state of things. To the point that Conversations, my Android XMPP client, uses less battery than Signal, despite seeing a lot more activity.
That means apple & google are effectively dictating how you can use TCP (i.e. not outside of HTTP and friends), and everything is now terrible.