A roadmap and appeal for help from The Matrix.org Foundation

31–32 of 32 posts

Re: A roadmap and appeal for help from The Matrix.org Foundation

#31

Post by benatkin » Thu, Feb 01, 2024, 8:28 PM UTC

joshsimmons wrote: post #28

benatkin wrote: post #7

They open-cored Synapse. I guess Element needs money, so they're crowdfunding. It doesn't take long to see that the open protocol is pretty geared towards Synapse/Element. By the way this is out of date: https://matrix.org/ecosystem/servers/ It says Apache 2, but if you click it, it goes to an archived repository, and if you click the link in the README to the new repository, it's under AGPL. That would be community-…

Element != the Matrix.org Foundation. Element relicensed Synapse. The Foundation is running a fundraiser. I'm a little confused about your comment "AGPL for me, but not for thee." Can you unpack that a bit? Synapse is available under an AGPL license for _everyone_. Thanks for flagging the error on our website, I believe there's a PR currently in flight to fix that.

> Element != the Matrix.org Foundation

Yes, I know, it's how this attempt to solicit donations works.

> I'm a little confused about your comment "AGPL for me, but not for thee." Can you unpack that a bit? Synapse is available under an AGPL license for _everyone_.

It's that Element wouldn't want to be able to use it under only the AGPL. That would be a nightmare. So it is for people who were interested in participating in the Matrix.org ecosystem because it purported to be vendor neutral. Now it is quite clearly no longer vendor neutral. There is no longer a server listed as stable that is available under a license that is acceptable to the owners of the repo as the sole license under which the owner may use it.

I'm drawing the equivalence of open-core Synapse to open-core Matrix. I think this is reasonable, based on the position of Synapse in Matrix ecosystem. I get what you're saying, I just don't happen to see it that way, as someone who has watched Matrix/Element over the last few years. Feel free to show me evidence of decoupling that I may have missed.

Re: A roadmap and appeal for help from The Matrix.org Foundation

#32

Post by caslon » Thu, Feb 01, 2024, 8:59 PM UTC

joshsimmons wrote: post #27

caslon wrote: post #2

> Otherwise, we need to start scaling back programs and staff starting January 2025. They've already done so. 2023 saw a (rather extensive) wave of layoffs, and a reduction in scale. Part of the issue is that Matthew is not the best communicator, which isn't great for fundraising. That being said, Josh isn't off to a strong start, either. Somehow, neither of them managed to spin the Apache -> AGPL move for Synapse as…

Hey, thanks for sharing your concerns. I think we need to start right at square 0: Element is not the same as the Matrix.org Foundation, and the Foundation has not had layoffs or a reduction in scale. We did EOL the public Libera.Chat Matrix bridge we were previously operating, while at the same time expanding our advocacy work to make sure we don't end up with legislators undermining their goals around safety by int…

It isn't written under the premise that Element and the Foundation are the same.

Rather, it's written under the premise that, at the time, there wasn't enough distinction between "The Matrix.org Foundation" and Element for it to make sense to differentiate the two as far as layoffs are concerned prior to hiring you: The Element layoff saw the firing of Matrix core contributors, and the Foundation had no employees at that time (as far as I'm aware).

The Element layoffs saw the reduction of the entirety of people concerned with Trust & Safety for Matrix. There is now one person hired by Matrix.org to handle it. This implies continuity.

The rest of the concerns listed are primarily about Element; I'm pretty confident the Foundation will end up doing okay in the long run. It is concerning that the reference implementation of the Matrix spec isn't owned by the Foundation and has a CLA, but I don't think there's a way of alleviating that concern in the present day with present funding levels, aside from Element assigning copyright of Dendrite to Matrix.org, or something.

Post reply on HN