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A week in Matrix

piegames.de

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Re: A week in Matrix

#61

Post by bronson »

jeroenhd wrote: post #56
bronson wrote: post #3

I feel this. And it doesn't even cover the very first conversation I have with my users. "You want to install Element" "But I want Matrix." "They call it Element now." "I want to speak on Element?" "No you want to speak on Matrix using Element." "Uh." "Don't worry about it. Look, just install Element." "Well, I see Element and Element X." "Oh right. Well, do you want to video chat?" "What?" "Element X doesn't video c…

Element X does video calls fine. It's been ages since it was the messy beta you describe it as. In fact, it does calls better these days. There's no good reason to go with Element Classic anymore, I don't understand why they don't just drop the old thing. All the other things are just as true if you replace "Matrix" and "Element" with "email" and "outlook"/"gmail". If you don't think the person you're talking to unde…

Does Element X video chat work with Element? Last I tried (a few months ago) it was awful, just randomly and completely broken, and didn't even have usable error messages.

Re: A week in Matrix

#62

Post by neilalexander »

louiskottmann wrote: post #19

Remark half-way in the rant they are using dendrite, an experimental matrix server implementation that has been abandonned. Thus ranting about it is cheeky at best. I have been using synapse for years with little issue.

I worked on Dendrite for a number of years, activity on it pretty much fell off a cliff after I left Element but there seems to be a fork called Zendrite that has carried on with development more recently. There is a migration path from a standard Dendrite installation: https://zendrite.pat-s.me/administration/migration-from-dend...

Re: A week in Matrix

#63

Post by tcfhgj »

bronson wrote: post #61
jeroenhd wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Element X does video calls fine. It's been ages since it was the messy beta you describe it as. In fact, it does calls better these days. There's no good reason to go with Element Classic anymore, I don't understand why they don't just drop the old thing. All the other things are just as true if you replace "Matrix" and "Element" with "email" and "outlook"/"gmail". If you don't think the person you're talking to unde…

Does Element X video chat work with Element? Last I tried (a few months ago) it was awful, just randomly and completely broken, and didn't even have usable error messages.

> with Element

Element Desktop?

Yes, just tried it between Element X Android and Element Desktop

Re: A week in Matrix

#64

Post by bronson »

tcfhgj wrote: post #63
bronson wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does Element X video chat work with Element? Last I tried (a few months ago) it was awful, just randomly and completely broken, and didn't even have usable error messages.

> with Element Element Desktop? Yes, just tried it between Element X Android and Element Desktop

With Element mobile.

Re: A week in Matrix

#65

Post by czottmann »

regnerba wrote: post #41
fedpost wrote: post #5

Are there any real options in this space for something that is - E2EE - Large group capable (100+ users) - FOSS + self hostable - Not riddled with security issues - Relatively easy to use for iOS and Android users (safe for normies) I help run a Matrix server for people who are at risk from the current administration and I can attest to all of the issues mentioned plus a few more. I'd rather not move to something as…

Chatto is what I am starting to lean into. Still early in development, but self-hosted version is available and the dev has been responsive and nice to chat to.

Came here to say that. https://chatto.run/

Re: A week in Matrix

#66

Post by fedpost »

joker99 wrote: post #20
fedpost wrote: post #5

Are there any real options in this space for something that is - E2EE - Large group capable (100+ users) - FOSS + self hostable - Not riddled with security issues - Relatively easy to use for iOS and Android users (safe for normies) I help run a Matrix server for people who are at risk from the current administration and I can attest to all of the issues mentioned plus a few more. I'd rather not move to something as…

You‘re describing Wire. One could quibble about the FOSS part but it is open source (gplv3 or agpl). It’s used by a bunch of European governments and agencies, as well as American agencies, has regular security reviews and thanks to MLS, supports groups with more than 2k clients. Self hosting is a bit of a pain, but people are doing it. Give it a try

I would love to move to wire, but the issue I've run into is that we'd need a custom client to move push notifications off their infra and that's a non-starter for iOS users because of app store policies (thanks Apple).

We'd be happy to pay them to host but for our size we'd be paying many thousands per year which is insane for chat.

Re: A week in Matrix

#67

Post by maelito »

bronson wrote: post #51
maelito wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Explaining to non-tech people that Matrix was email and Element was Gmail was easy to understand.

Email is also very confusing. What is the Matrix equivalent to Gmail? Something that works reliably without having to understand all the background and acronyms?

ElementX works for non-tech people around me. No problem.

Re: A week in Matrix

#68

Post by panick21_ »

pkulak wrote: post #9
fedpost wrote: post #5

Are there any real options in this space for something that is - E2EE - Large group capable (100+ users) - FOSS + self hostable - Not riddled with security issues - Relatively easy to use for iOS and Android users (safe for normies) I help run a Matrix server for people who are at risk from the current administration and I can attest to all of the issues mentioned plus a few more. I'd rather not move to something as…

That’s Matrix. Matrix has spent too much time chasing Discord, with spaces, and group video chat, and email with federation. And too much time chasing Slack with threads. But everything you mentioned is core Matrix chat and works great on every client.

I disagree. All these things are pretty needed. They had a lot of other projects ongoing that they spent time one, like full time developers for VR and a bunch of other things. But overall its just a tricky thing to run a project like this.

Re: A week in Matrix

#69

Post by panick21_ »

pitchlatte wrote: post #47
stsch wrote: post #32

I can relate. I run Synapse for only 2 users, and every update is like a lottery. "Unable to decrypt" most often. Logout 2-3 times, clear cache, then suddenly it works again. IRC was so easy. :(

as someone who wasn’t online in the IRC heydays i really wonder why we can’t just build on it, instead of inventing new protocols

Once you add all that need on IRC its 2x as complex as matrix and harder to get into. There is a reason nobody does it.

Re: A week in Matrix

#70

Post by pitchlatte »

jeroenhd wrote: post #57
pitchlatte wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

as someone who wasn’t online in the IRC heydays i really wonder why we can’t just build on it, instead of inventing new protocols

People still use IRC. You can't run your own server and talk to people on other servers without a load of work, you cannot do any kind of encryption, file transfers (images?) are a privacy nightmare if they work at all, web clients need a proxy. Authentication doesn't really exist. Messages disappear if you disconnect and reconnect unless you set up an additional server that will make it seem like you're always conne…

XMPP, then. it’s the continually inventing new protocols (insert XKCD comic) that i’m protesting against.
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