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This is my quarterly Zulip[1] mention! Independent OSS chat and unlikely to be turned into corporate goop. [1] https://zulip.com/ https://zulip.com/

spurgu 6y ago
Let's add in Mattermost. Have you used both? I remember trying Zulip briefly one evening and it just felt horribly confusing. Mattermost feels more at home but its threading model is weird, it's not really threading (at least like Slack) since all messages are echoed to the channel. https://mattermost.org/ https://mattermost.org/
cutemonster 6y ago
> unlikely to be turned into corporate goop What are reasons it's unlikely? (I like Zulip btw)
- tabbott 6y ago
  Zulip's founder here. (I should write a blog post on this topic.) The structural reason is that we're intentionally not taking VC funding, which does more or less inevitable lead to that outcome. Less structural but just as important is that my personal priority is in creating great open source software for the world, not personal enrichment. This thread may be useful: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23105031 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23105031.
  - cutemonster 6y ago
    Thanks! I read it and the history section at your website
paxys 6y ago
How is Zulip as a company different from Slack?
- tabbott 6y ago
  Zulip as a company is extremely different a massively-VC-funded-and-then-go-public company like Slack: * 100% of the software we write is FOSS. * We intentionally haven't taken VC funding despite plenty of opportunity to do so, to ensure we can remain an independent, values-focused company. * Most features are built by our open source community, not fulltime employees. * Zulip was a distributed company pre-pandemic (while we did have a SF coworking space walking distance from my home, I as the founder only went in about once every week or two, and essentially all collaboration was over Zulip or GitHub).
  - sprashanth 6y ago
    Isn't Zulip acquired by Dropbox?
    - price 6y ago
      Dropbox hasn't been involved with Zulip since 2016. Previous discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23864140 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23864140 They acquired the original Zulip startup in 2014. Then they open-sourced the code, and Zulip since 2016 is backed by a new company which is the one tabbott is describing above.

spurgu 6y ago

Let's add in Mattermost. Have you used both? I remember trying Zulip briefly one evening and it just felt horribly confusing. Mattermost feels more at home but its threading model is weird, it's not really threading (at least like Slack) since all messages are echoed to the channel. https://mattermost.org/ https://mattermost.org/

cutemonster 6y ago

> unlikely to be turned into corporate goop What are reasons it's unlikely? (I like Zulip btw)

tabbott 6y ago
Zulip's founder here. (I should write a blog post on this topic.) The structural reason is that we're intentionally not taking VC funding, which does more or less inevitable lead to that outcome. Less structural but just as important is that my personal priority is in creating great open source software for the world, not personal enrichment. This thread may be useful: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23105031 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23105031.
- cutemonster 6y ago
  Thanks! I read it and the history section at your website

paxys 6y ago

How is Zulip as a company different from Slack?

tabbott 6y ago
Zulip as a company is extremely different a massively-VC-funded-and-then-go-public company like Slack: * 100% of the software we write is FOSS. * We intentionally haven't taken VC funding despite plenty of opportunity to do so, to ensure we can remain an independent, values-focused company. * Most features are built by our open source community, not fulltime employees. * Zulip was a distributed company pre-pandemic (while we did have a SF coworking space walking distance from my home, I as the founder only went in about once every week or two, and essentially all collaboration was over Zulip or GitHub).
- sprashanth 6y ago
  Isn't Zulip acquired by Dropbox?
  - price 6y ago
    Dropbox hasn't been involved with Zulip since 2016. Previous discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23864140 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23864140 They acquired the original Zulip startup in 2014. Then they open-sourced the code, and Zulip since 2016 is backed by a new company which is the one tabbott is describing above.