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GitLab Mattermost, an open source on-premises Slack alternative
- thebiglebrewski 11y agoCan this be setup without GitLab? Also this looks a LOT like Slack. Any infringements?
- sytse 11y agoYou can set it up without GitLab via http://www.mattermost.org/download/ http://www.mattermost.org/download/ Only the docker install is pretty easy to do, doing it from source is pretty tedious, one of the reasons we will bundle it with GitLab. It seems inspired by Slack but we think it is different enough and it will grow more different over time.
- ztratar 11y ago"different enough and it will grow more different over time" Can you elaborate more? Don't mean any disrespect, but this seems like a complete copy-paste of their interface.
- sytse 11y agoI agree they do look similar. Obviously none of the code was copy pasted and I hope the products will diverge further over time. GitLab started out with a pretty similar look but by now it found its own look.
- bau5 11y agoObvious UI clone is obvious.
- it33 11y agoYou can install a preview of Mattermost on a Mac in about 5 minutes with Boot2Docker in a single container instance, instructions here (email not enabled in Docker instance): https://github.com/mattermost/platform/tree/v0.6.0#mac-osx https://github.com/mattermost/platform/tree/v0.6.0#mac-osx In terms of messaging functionality, there's nothing ground-breaking about the UI, our focus is on avoiding what happened to SpinPunch when we were previously locked in to a proprietary SaaS messaging service: http://www.mattermost.org/why-we-made-mattermost-an-open-source-slack-alternative/ http://www.mattermost.org/why-we-made-mattermost-an-open-sou... That said, Mattermost was originally designed to be a games portal (not just a messaging app), and you'll probably see the UI bring that functionality back in the "AppCenter" feature being developed: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1s6vrticxgz9PsxePQ-dFrsKpwImAjn7KdL4uaioEEns/edit#heading=h.fgyoa0xbt3gx https://docs.google.com/document/d/1s6vrticxgz9PsxePQ-dFrsKp...
- _wmd 11y agoRelevant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Computer,_Inc._v._Microsoft_Corp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Computer,_Inc._v._Micros.... and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Development_Corp._v._Borland_International,_Inc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Development_Corp._v._Bor.... In summary, this probably isn't infringing unless they lifted the actual HTML from Slack or similar
- thebiglebrewski 11y agoAs a follow-up will there be a mobile app for this too?
- sytse 11y agoNot sure yet, maybe Ian of Spinpunch can comment.
- it33 11y agoYes, we have an iOS app internally, but it needs updating, and also we need to get push notifications to work for on-prem customers. We're working on getting our issue tracking system transparent so the community can see everything that's being worked on.
- thebiglebrewski 11y agoThat would be great - thanks!
- pwenzel 11y agoPush notifications in Slack are an important feature. It allows me to be quickly accessible when I am away from my computer.
- thebiglebrewski 11y agoSorry for being the only Top level commenter but one more question: One of the big benefits of Slack right now for me is that there are NYCTech and Philly Tech slacks that I'm active in. Will there be any way to integrate this with other communities that on Slack, maybe with something like Slackline?
- sytse 11y agoI think https://slackline.io/ https://slackline.io/ is really interesting, channels shared between different team. I see the use case for this, in GitLab issues it is also annoying that it is hard to work with people from outside the company if the issue is private. But there are no plans to do something like this at this moment. However, it is all open source, feel free to add functions. And because you don't have to pay for accounts there is no limit to the number of people that can join.
- thebiglebrewski 11y agoThanks! Super useful.
- it33 11y agoThere's an existing feature request for Slackline integration, upvotes welcome: http://mattermost.uservoice.com/forums/306457-general/suggestions/8589463-connect-mattermost-and-slack-channels-via-slacklin http://mattermost.uservoice.com/forums/306457-general/sugges... Please feel free to comment as well, as there's different variations of this feature (Mattermost to Mattermost team, or Mattermost to Slack team, etc.).
- ghostwreck 11y agoI love using Slack and have been looking for an open source alternative. This sounds great! Anything similar (open source / on premises) for video and desktop sharing? I am trying to get away from Skype or Google Hangouts in the same way.
- sytse 11y agoWe have not found anything good for video calling. Not open source but also not closed source. Still using Hangouts that uses a lot of CPU with Chrome on OSX (tip: use Safari to force another codec).
- JoeAltmaier 11y agoSococo RocketShorts can support dozens of simultaneous audio/video/screenshare clients/conversations in the same area. I'm not sure what their source policy is...
- mindcrime 11y agoAnything similar (open source / on premises) for video and desktop sharing? Apache OpenMeetings gets you part of the way there. Unfortunately the UI is Flash based, and it looks a bit outdated. But it is usable, and supports audio, video, shared whiteboading, etc. Not sure what the latest plans are among the core project maintainers, as far as getting away from the Flash interface. But if they aren't planning to do anything, I might take a stab at it. If anybody is interested in helping with something like that, ping me. Anyway, if you want to take a look, we keep an instance running on one of our demo servers: http://demo2.fogbeam.org http://demo2.fogbeam.org You can login with username "kflynn" and password "secret". Registering a new account probably won't work, as I don't have the email support fully configured, so I don't think you'll get the verification link if you try to register. I'm sitting in one of the rooms now if anybody wants to chat, so they can actually see this work. Just login and then go to http://demo2.fogbeam.org:5080/openmeetings/#room/42 http://demo2.fogbeam.org:5080/openmeetings/#room/42 Edit: New user registration is fully setup now, so feel free to create your own account if you want to play around with this for a while.
- ocdtrekkie 11y agoVery very cool integration! We're finally starting to see on premises options that can take on cloud solutions without compromising these sorts of features.
- rdl 11y agoWow. Thank you! And thank you for open sourcing it. There are so many reasons I won't use a hosted chat system, but all the on-premise options suck on mobile (otherwise I'd just use ircd), or just suck (hipchat). This is a great option.
- sytse 11y agoThank you! Just to be sure, Spinpunch https://www.spinpunch.com/ https://www.spinpunch.com/ made Mattermost, we're just working to package it up in GitLab. To enable this they added OAuth and PostgreSQL support to Mattermost.
- ex3ndr 11y agoYou can try our solution, we have best mobile apps (but still beta, yes): https://actor.im https://actor.im
- kohenkatz 11y agoWhy Mattermost over Rocket.chat, Let's Chat, or Kandan (as listed at https://about.gitlab.com/direction/ https://about.gitlab.com/direction/)?
- sytse 11y agoNice that you found that page! We considered all of them. Rocket.chat and Mattermost seemed like the best products. I don't like that Rocket.chat is made with Meteor and therefore Mongo only, we already ship and love PostgreSQL. Also, I met Ian from the Mattermost team at YC camp and we hit it off together.
- engelgabriel 11y agoIt’s a shame you didn't to talk to us too. There are a lot of benefits of using Meteor. First, it plans to be DB agnostic, so Postgres support will come in the next version, and many other DBs. So if that was the main reason, it's was a bit short sighted. Also, we have already submitted our Mobile apps to Google Play and Apple Store. Sure the first version is Hybrid, but they work really well, and the native version is on the making. We are also working with a team from the US army to implements the DoD Manual 5200.01V2 so they can use it at government agencies too. On scalability, we are pushing the limits with a deployment that has 40k users for the Federal University in Brazil. Hopefully GitLab will not commit to a single option so early, that would be premature at this point, and maybe we can work together to offer another chat option?
- fweespeech 11y agoHonestly, this seems awesome. :) Mattermost just needs an Android & iOS app selection.
- chinathrow 11y agoThis is just great. Decentralization is a good thing. Not having your entire conversations on a third party solution is definitively a bright idea.
- click170 11y agoThank you! Too many solutions rely on a centralized off-site hosted server and for some sensitive environments an on premesis solution is required. Does this support XMPP federation, and is it based on XMPP? If not, I am interested in the analysis performed and why you opted to not use XMPP.
- it33 11y agoThanks click170, When we talked to potential users, XMPP didn't come up as a priority, and we haven't yet had a feature request filed for it. Very happy to have it added so XMPP can be upvoted: http://mattermost.uservoice.com/ http://mattermost.uservoice.com/
- 001spartan 11y agoOne of the major reasons my current organization uses Hipchat is that it supports XMPP. The importance to us is that it allows us to use OTR between users with clients like Pidgin or Adium. As a security company, that is a very valuable thing.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- brillenfux 11y agoHonest-to-god question: Why all those web chat servers? I feel something very similar to the shift from Usenet to web forums is happening. Is IRC really so hard to use?
- hayksaakian 11y agoweb-based IRC is ubiquitous too. kiwiirc makes a free modern-looking client. that's how i used freenode for the longest time.
- jonursenbach 11y agoIRC doesn't have rich media support, and without setting up a bit of backend work, you will just have an ephermeral chatroom.
- bpicolo 11y agoIRC might not, but an irc -client- can. :)
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- nvk 11y agoIRC is great, and I will stick with it. The issue is the rest of the org wants chat too, they can't even setup email. Slack is for them.
- nightcracker 11y agoNo, but these web chats provide features that IRC doesn't, provides them better, or automatically. Permanent history, embedded images and other media, persistent notifications without a permanent client logged in, no additional software needed, formatted text, more intuitive access controls come to mind.
- falcolas 11y ago> Permanent history Slack frequently does not even offer this. > embedded images and other media Many IRC clients do offer this > persistent notifications I only get notifications when my client isn't logged in via Email. I can get this, and other options, with an IRC bouncer. > additional software needed There are web IRC clients. > more intuitive access controls About the same between Slack and IRC clients here. Click on a channel in the sidebar. Right click for more options. Type and hit return to send messages. I use Slack, not IRC, but these aren't the real advantages for Slack over IRC.
- scrollaway 11y agoHey gitlab team - I'm really excited to see that release. Is there an IRC gateway? If not, is one in the works? I'd love to contribute to it.
- sytse 11y agoI don't think there is in Mattermost, I think it would be welcome.
- it33 11y agoHi scrollaway, no IRC gateway yet, would love your help designing one. All contributions welcome--ideas, designs, feedback, code, bug reports: http://www.mattermost.org/many-ways-to-contribute/ http://www.mattermost.org/many-ways-to-contribute/ First step would perhaps be filing a feature request so the community can upvote: http://www.mattermost.org/feature-requests/ http://www.mattermost.org/feature-requests/
- imaginator 11y agoshameless-plug: We've been building the federated/anti-yet-another-silo version of this/Slack. Instanced interconnect kinda like usenet did and email does for 30-odd years now. Our emphasis on being a tool for developers to add federated communication to their app (vs being another silo like Slack). The UX isn't nearly as polished, but it does federate with other servers using the XMPP network (e.g a conversation earlier today http://imgur.com/UL34KSF http://imgur.com/UL34KSF). A developer started working on a slack-like UX and we threw up at http://buddycloud.org http://buddycloud.org (https://github.com/buddycloud/buddycloud-angular-app https://github.com/buddycloud/buddycloud-angular-app if anyone wants to help).
- icewater0 11y agoSlack is really useful but it really bothers me that it's hosted off-site. I would rather my communications with my team stay within the team, and not with slack.com.
- sytse 11y agoAwesome, that is exactly what GitLab Mattermost will enable.
- SEJeff 11y agoFor those that might not realize, this isn't a new version that gitlab wrote, but open source doing what it does best! They've extended mattermost[1] and are including it out of the box with gitlab. Really slick stuff. [1] http://www.mattermost.org/ http://www.mattermost.org/
- sytse 11y agoIndeed, this is the work of Mattermost/Spinpunch. As I mentioned before on https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10081462 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10081462 the Spinpunch team was nice enough to add the OAuth and PostgreSQL support we needed. We hope it will be a fruitful collaboration.
- nullz 11y agoGitlab as id/auth provider, eh? What is out there in terms of id/auth appliances that are sufficiently generic/cross-platform?
- sytse 11y agoThe Mattermost implementation is based on OAuth, so any OAuth provider will work. GitLab itself supports LDAP, OAuth, Kerberos and SAML.
- dattl 11y agoCan somebody list all Slack alternatives (and maybe weigh the pro and cons between each of them)? I really lost track, but I also want to setup (read: self-host) one for my team. There is: * Mattermost * Rocket.chat * Let's Chat * Kandan * ???
- ex3ndr 11y agoNice to see project that opensourced in fear of us. Very early alpha after two days of our promise to opensource our stuff. But you are more succeeded in promoting that our project. Congrats.
- sytse 11y agoMattermost has been open source for a while and this announcement has been worked on for 18 days https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/merge_requests/858 https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/merge_requests/...
- ex3ndr 11y agoI mean first mattermost release, not gitlab improvements.
- lloeki 11y agoAny plan for importing data from Slack, thus easing the migration?
- sytse 11y agoNo, not at this time.