Back when XMPP was still relevant (2008-2010), some of the people I knew dreamt about phone numbers being eliminated as a concept within a decade, if not sooner. That everyone would be able to just get an OpenID account on any server, have an XMPP account for texts and calls with the literally same address schema, email with the same address, etc. You could just tell your friends that you are reachable at anon@coolserver.net and voila! You can receive emails, texts (via XMPP), even calls. You can log into various sites, because certainly everyone will eventually adopt OpenID.

Fifteen years down the road, what instead happened is that almost every popular messaging app today relies on a phone number as a main address scheme and a proof of identity. Those lads couldn't be more wrong.

:akkosad: