Discord would have made a better name for a decentralized network and Matrix would have been better for a private company.

sxan , 3 months ago

“Element” was originally called “Riot,” which was an even better name than “Discord.” But, then, governments started adopting Matrix and someone realized “Riot” wasn’t corporate-friendly ¯*(ツ)*/¯

thermal_shock , 3 months ago

mmmm, my favorite symbiote

spiderman , 3 months ago

governments use matrix for communication?

sxan , 3 months ago

Yup. It’s used by the German Bundeswehr, and by France’s DINUM.

Here’s a Wired article from a few years ago about its adoption.

spiderman , 3 months ago

That’s really cool.

poVoq , 3 months ago

For all practical purposes Matrix is run by a private for profit and venture-capital funded company called Element / New Vector.

FiniteBanjo OP , 3 months ago

If the company went under you could continue to selfhost, right?

poVoq , 3 months ago

Yes, but there are IMHO better options like XMPP or IRC that are truely community driven and have stood the test of time.

FiniteBanjo OP , 3 months ago

Oh okay, good good. I apologize for my mistake in the title.

possiblylinux127 , 3 months ago

I think if anything they have lost to the test of time

Dark_Arc , 3 months ago

IRCv3 the “next gen” version of IRC is woefully inadequate compared to Matrix. The IRC working group is only worried about the IRC client protocol and the effort seems to have largely stalled. That’s like defining the protocol for Lemmy servers and clients without the Lemmy server to server communication.

ircv3.net/wg

XMPP is a potentially more compelling option/a good option. I don’t know enough about the low level details to really debate whether XMPP is “better or worse.”

I don’t think either of these protocols being older qualifies them for superiority on the merits of “standing the test of time.”

Carighan , 3 months ago

It’s a natural result of this “design by comittee” approach. In the effort to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one.

sabreW4K3 , 3 months ago

I would argue that IRC hasn’t managed to evolve with the needs and wants of modernity and that’s why the likes of Discord and Matrix have become so big.

jg1i , 3 months ago

I found a related thread to this on Hacker News. It was interesting to read: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19365968

Carighan , 3 months ago

Wow that guy sounds like an asshole. No wonder they banned him.

poVoq , 3 months ago

It has improved a bit since then (2019), but mainly because of the detoriating funding situation forcing Element to push the Matrix foundation to try and survive on their own.

possiblylinux127 , 3 months ago

The Element server is so much more stable than synapse

Link , 3 months ago

What element server?

fmstrat , 3 months ago

element.io/server-suite

Not sure if it’s truly independent, or just a management panel over synapse.

justJanne , 3 months ago

ESS is a product built on top of synapse with custom additions, but it’s still synapse underneath.