Matrix at FOSDEM 2019

Okay, so this project sounds exciting. But it's really hard to figure out what is currently possible and how to get started. (I find this ironic for a project that is focused on improving communication.)

Here is where I am after jumping around the docs for 15 minutes. Can someone with more Matrix experience help?

So as of right now:

* Can I have one app on my iOS device that allows me to seamlessly message people on platforms like messenger and whatsapp and email? (Is there even one 30-60s video clip demo'ing Matrix?)

* Do I need to run my own server to get going? (Public servers are discouraged for auth'ing with my private messages, or that's not even implemented.)

* Can I just plop the docker onto a server and I'm done? I suspect I have to do something with the bridges, but how much?

* Overall, how long will it take me to get running and have satisfaction?

One an end note, I think this project has so much potential, and is potentially killing itself with its super-dev-focused information layout and messaging. We need to get non-technical end-users excited about this project!

Okay I'm going to gripe in my postscripts now:

p.s. This blog post makes the common release announcement mistake of not even telling you what the software does in the first few paragraphs.

p.p.s. "If you want to… Just get started! Then read… [Getting Involved [link]" Really? There's no end-user getting started page? It's a getting involved page where one option is to write my own server?

The simple case, if you just want to use it, is that you go to https://riot.im/app and sign yourself up as a new user. You can talk to other Matrix users, join rooms, and in general use it like any other chat service. Riot is the reference client and you can use it via web, install it as a desktop (electron) app, or install the iOS or Android apps. There are other clients you can use, but for the most part they're all very much in beta.

You can also set up some very simple bridging from within the client that will connect a Matrix room to a room in Slack, Gitter, and IRC. It will basically mirror the contents of (say) a Slack room into a Matrix room and vice versa. This process is pretty much just point-and-click.

The less-simple case is if you want to do "puppet" bridging, where you can control your own Slack, Discord, iMessage, Hangouts, etc. user via Matrix. The people you talk to using those services won't actually know that you're using Matrix; it just sends messages as if they're coming from your account. To do that, you will need your own server and you'll need to run bridge servers. I didn't find it particularly hard to get Synapse (the reference server) up and running, and I don't have much experience with that kind of thing. The time consuming part for me was just learning how to get a TLS certificate and how to set up a reverse proxy in Apache.

Setting up the bridge servers is more of a mixed bag. They're all developed by the community and have differing levels of stability and polish. It will really depend on which ones you want to have set up.

> Going back to tapping out messages on my phone in iMessage

...turns you back into a first class iMessage citizen. Meaning better security, more features, and a special color for the messages to signal all that to your recipients with an iphone.

Matrix people-- please update your section on E2EE:

https://matrix.org/docs/guides/faq#which-matrix-clients-supp...

* Riot webpage claims their E2EE support is still in beta

* nheko links to a github repo that is apparently no longer maintained

Not sure about the SDK links. But I'd strongly suggest changing the text to a simple, "None yet." At least until you have stable, default E2EE in at least one client for a few releases.

I found Matrix and Riot a while back while I was searching for an encrypted, open-source alternative to Rocket Chat for my team.

While there are still some things that need improving, they're mostly just rough edges. All of my coworkers are at least semi-technical, so that makes things a little easier for us. At times, the key verification can be frustrating, but I think this is just a hard problem to solve in general.

As I began to use Matrix more, I realized that there's potential for Matrix to be much, much more than just a Slack/Mattermost/Rocket Chat killer. I could see this replacing texting, what's app, group chat for business and outside of work. I haven't tested much of the video chat or phone calling features, but if support for those become robust, I could see Matrix replacing almost every form of communication I currently have. That would be really excellent considering most of the communication channels I currently use are controlled by corporations I don't like and don't trust.

Following that line of thought, your Matrix address could become a universal point of contact. A Matrix address seems so much simpler than a phone number, and you don't have to worry about the fact that you may not be able to transfer numbers between carriers or something like that.

I have so much hope for this project. We need an open-source, encrypted, decentralized communications standard. This is the best and broadest attempt I've seen at this so far.