I found Matrix and Riot a while back while I was searching for an encrypted, open-source alternative to Rocket Chat for my team. While there are still some thi

I found Matrix and Riot a while back while I was searching for an encrypted, open-source alternative to Rocket Chat for my team. While there are still some things that need improving, they're mostly just rough edges. All of my coworkers are at least semi-technical, so that makes things a little easier for us. At times, the key verification can be frustrating, but I think this is just a hard problem to solve in general. As I began to use Matrix more, I realized that there's potential for Matrix to be much, much more than just a Slack/Mattermost/Rocket Chat killer. I could see this replacing texting, what's app, group chat for business and outside of work. I haven't tested much of the video chat or phone calling features, but if support for those become robust, I could see Matrix replacing almost every form of communication I currently have. That would be really excellent considering most of the communication channels I currently use are controlled by corporations I don't like and don't trust. Following that line of thought, your Matrix address could become a universal point of contact. A Matrix address seems so much simpler than a phone number, and you don't have to worry about the fact that you may not be able to transfer numbers between carriers or something like that. I have so much hope for this project. We need an open-source, encrypted, decentralized communications standard. This is the best and broadest attempt I've seen at this so far.