The other day, 82 comments https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31535034
This post is a bit different, given it's actually giving the technical details and linking to the howto etc :)
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Welcoming Rocket.Chat to Matrix
31–40 of 81 posts
Re: Welcoming Rocket.Chat to Matrix
#32I didn't know Rocket.Chat, but it looks like a decent OpenSource alternative to Slack. The fact they are switching to Matrix seems like a bigger win to Matrix than Rocket.Chat. Rocket.Chat is a real world chat client that seems to have some success and they just decided to delegate an important part of their stack to a third party project. What better validation do you expect than that?
In this case it isn't really "switching" to Matrix. Its more Rocket.Chat is utilizing Matrix to increase chances of interoperabilty.
Rocket.Chat still maintains its own full frontend and backend. With its own API's and integrations etc. But gains a new ability to communicate with anyone out there also using the Matrix protocol. Regardless of what Software they are running.
So say your company has Rocket.Chat running and then you start working on a project with another company. You can create federated rooms and collaborate.
IMO its very much a strategic advantage to have federation support in your tool.
I personally view this as an important move for the future of the internet and modern decentralized communication.
Re: Welcoming Rocket.Chat to Matrix
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
Rocket.Chat is basically selfhosted slack. They now have a feature where it can federate with matrix. This means rocketchat users on your rocketchat instance can talk to matrix users on a federated matrix network if you enable it. This means you could use the Rocket.chat server and Rocket.chat UI as an alternative to a homeserver + matrix client. I don't believe this allows using a matrix client to connect to rocket.…
> Rocket.Chat is basically selfhosted slack. What would this accomplish that self hosting synapse doesn't? It's totally possible to self host the official matrix 'synapse' daemon for self hosted slack-like functionality within an organization, and use the official 'element' client or any other compliant matrix protocol client. If it's for something like company slack-like functionality you can choose to federate or n…
> What would this accomplish that self hosting synapse doesn't?
It would have all your messages in it if you've been using it for years.
You may prefer the UI.
It may be more efficient (synapse gets a lot of bad press for being heavyweight).
You may partner with a company that already has one system, while you use the other, and would like to chat with each other without either of you changing out your infrastructure.
Re: Welcoming Rocket.Chat to Matrix
#34HN frequently seems obsessed with Matrix. So I want to ask, where do you all hang out and how do you use it? I think Matrix is cool, I just am not sure how people are actually using it.
Please don't tell me to look at the channels list there's a lot of porn and most channels I have joined are dead.
Re: Welcoming Rocket.Chat to Matrix
#35Can someone explain in layman terms what Rocket.Chat is? Is it a Matrix client like Element? Is it a protocol?
Rocket.Chat is an opensource team collaboration and omnichannel product. Its team collaboration features would be of the likes of slack / discord etc. The omnichannel features bring in different customer facing channels like facebook/twitter/instagram/whatsapp/telegram/livechat/etc into the tool.
Matrix is a protocol with a primary focus on federation. Rocket.Chat is basically adopting the Matrix Protocol to bring Federation into the product. This means that two Rocket.Chat servers from two different companies on their respective infrastructure can now talk to each other. Or even if you are on Rocket.Chat and want communicate with another company that is using Element(the client developed the same people that are developing the Matrix Protocol).
Re: Welcoming Rocket.Chat to Matrix
#36I didn't know Rocket.Chat, but it looks like a decent OpenSource alternative to Slack. The fact they are switching to Matrix seems like a bigger win to Matrix than Rocket.Chat. Rocket.Chat is a real world chat client that seems to have some success and they just decided to delegate an important part of their stack to a third party project. What better validation do you expect than that?
In this case it isn't really "switching" to Matrix. Its more Rocket.Chat is utilizing Matrix to increase chances of interoperabilty. Rocket.Chat still maintains its own full frontend and backend. With its own API's and integrations etc. But gains a new ability to communicate with anyone out there also using the Matrix protocol. Regardless of what Software they are running. So say your company has Rocket.Chat running…
%1000 this. I have tried RocketChat before and loved its ease of use and powerful well-polished features! But, I ultimatly was scared off because I did not want to get locked into a walled garden (even if the garden was self-hosted...). Federation is hugely important for communication.
Re: Welcoming Rocket.Chat to Matrix
#37Rocket.Chat uses their own E2EE scheme [1] which is different and arguably less secure than the one in Matrix [2]. As I understand it, this is simply a bridge and will defeat the purpose of the advanced E2EE algorithm in Matrix. I recall looking at Rocket.Chat when setting up chat servers for my corporation and dropping it over their poor and slow to adopt E2EE implementations.
[1] https://docs.rocket.chat/guides/security/end-to-end-encrypti...
Re: Welcoming Rocket.Chat to Matrix
#38HN frequently seems obsessed with Matrix. So I want to ask, where do you all hang out and how do you use it? I think Matrix is cool, I just am not sure how people are actually using it. Please don't tell me to look at the channels list there's a lot of porn and most channels I have joined are dead.
I don't use it often but I'm a big fan. I think just like how you don't look up whether someone is using outlook or gmail when you want to email them, IM and video calls should not be bound to clients. It's stupid that I need MS Teams to talk to someone, when all my stuff are on another platform. Matrix is fixing that.
Re: Welcoming Rocket.Chat to Matrix
#39Can someone explain in layman terms what Rocket.Chat is? Is it a Matrix client like Element? Is it a protocol?
Rocket.Chat is an opensource team collaboration and omnichannel product. Its team collaboration features would be of the likes of slack / discord etc. The omnichannel features bring in different customer facing channels like facebook/twitter/instagram/whatsapp/telegram/livechat/etc into the tool. Matrix is a protocol with a primary focus on federation. Rocket.Chat is basically adopting the Matrix Protocol to bring Fe…
rocketchat already had federation, but it is/was awful
Re: Welcoming Rocket.Chat to Matrix
#40HN frequently seems obsessed with Matrix. So I want to ask, where do you all hang out and how do you use it? I think Matrix is cool, I just am not sure how people are actually using it. Please don't tell me to look at the channels list there's a lot of porn and most channels I have joined are dead.
I use it as a one-stop-shop for messaging. I setup a Synapse server ~5 years ago and since then have convinced many of my close family and friends to join my server (or another). Now many of the folks I want to chat with are regular users of Matrix. For some of my stone-age friends that are still on WhatsApp, I run a bridge [1] so that I don't need to look beyond my Matrix client to see WhatsApp messages. For other random SMS messages, I use the dated SmsMatrix [2] to push text messages so I can see/reply from Matrix. Beyond that, I also use Matrix to connect to several open source communities (e.g. Mailu.io [3]).
1. https://github.com/mautrix/whatsapp 2. https://github.com/tijder/SmsMatrix 3. https://matrix.to/#/!RJFCFtixHgPhzacdhW:tedomum.net?via=ghos...