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We work extensively with XMPP, so I can speak with some authority on this topic. It is true, the protocol was invented in 1999 for then-relevant conditions. Th

We work extensively with XMPP, so I can speak with some authority on this topic. It is true, the protocol was invented in 1999 for then-relevant conditions. There are good things - everything that is related to federation works remarkably well, and bad things - multi-device usage, reconnection, etc. However, the very thing that is mostly panned here by Matrix proponents - modularity and extensibility - allows to uplift it for the modern world. Actually, we recently did just that, by developing a bunch of new protocols and implementing them on an XMPP server. I'll spare the verbose details, but in short, we redesigned reconnection process from a resumption of an XML stream to restoration of messenger state, and it works rather well. That set of protocol extensions greatly helps to improve the performance of our upcoming XMPP client.

e12e 7y ago
Who are "we" and what client/projects are you working on? Are these changes new public XEPs that others can/will implement?
- Andrew_nenakhov 7y ago
  "We" are makers of Xabber, a popular XMPP client for Android. It had gotten a bit stale lately: a few years ago we figured out that XMPP improvement should start on the server-side, so we diverted all our resources towards creating a set of protocol and implementation it on a server, an alpha version of which was released last month, it has a built-in an insanely great web version of Xabber, which likely offers the best XMPP UX ever, on any platform. We also plan to release an iOS version of Xabber soon - this month or next. Our protocols are public, and we plan to submit them to XSF, once we're done translating them from our native language. Hopefully, these XEPs would be supported one day by other clients. We believe they are crucial for XMPP future.
  - e12e 7y ago
    Very interesting. Which server are you enhancing? Do you provide xmpp hosting?
    - Andrew_nenakhov 7y ago
      We forked ejabberd because it's the best existing XMPP server. We do provide XMPP hosting (at xabber.com/xabber.org domains), but currently, it's just standard ejabberd, a transition to our own build will come later, hopefully, this year. We also plan to provide domain hosting.
K0SM0S 7y ago
(also in relation to your other response w. details) This is very, very promising! I'm so glad to hear XMPP is alive and kicking; I'll definitely explore these packages of yours. Thanks for the work and for sharing. It's been about a decade since I had the oh-so-common billion-dollar idea (read: extremely costly but nowhere near profitable) of "hey, how about we used private servers/clients in peer to peer to communicate? Like MSN and descendants but without a central server?" I think me and the 100,000 others with the same idea felt the challenge of improving XMPP + working on conversion from existing platforms was too tall an order. Now, if guys like you have been/are improving XMPP 'enough', then I can see a path for the open ecosystem to grow anew. And that, provided alternatives like Matrix etc. provide a path for data (API, URLs etc), is just what we need to massively disrupt the basic communication space. Really, thanks. Spark re-ignited for social apps and a new social paradigm fitting our times.

e12e 7y ago

Who are "we" and what client/projects are you working on? Are these changes new public XEPs that others can/will implement?

Andrew_nenakhov 7y ago
"We" are makers of Xabber, a popular XMPP client for Android. It had gotten a bit stale lately: a few years ago we figured out that XMPP improvement should start on the server-side, so we diverted all our resources towards creating a set of protocol and implementation it on a server, an alpha version of which was released last month, it has a built-in an insanely great web version of Xabber, which likely offers the best XMPP UX ever, on any platform. We also plan to release an iOS version of Xabber soon - this month or next. Our protocols are public, and we plan to submit them to XSF, once we're done translating them from our native language. Hopefully, these XEPs would be supported one day by other clients. We believe they are crucial for XMPP future.
- e12e 7y ago
  Very interesting. Which server are you enhancing? Do you provide xmpp hosting?
  - Andrew_nenakhov 7y ago
    We forked ejabberd because it's the best existing XMPP server. We do provide XMPP hosting (at xabber.com/xabber.org domains), but currently, it's just standard ejabberd, a transition to our own build will come later, hopefully, this year. We also plan to provide domain hosting.

K0SM0S 7y ago

(also in relation to your other response w. details) This is very, very promising! I'm so glad to hear XMPP is alive and kicking; I'll definitely explore these packages of yours. Thanks for the work and for sharing. It's been about a decade since I had the oh-so-common billion-dollar idea (read: extremely costly but nowhere near profitable) of "hey, how about we used private servers/clients in peer to peer to communicate? Like MSN and descendants but without a central server?" I think me and the 100,000 others with the same idea felt the challenge of improving XMPP + working on conversion from existing platforms was too tall an order. Now, if guys like you have been/are improving XMPP 'enough', then I can see a path for the open ecosystem to grow anew. And that, provided alternatives like Matrix etc. provide a path for data (API, URLs etc), is just what we need to massively disrupt the basic communication space. Really, thanks. Spark re-ignited for social apps and a new social paradigm fitting our times.