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Matrix is not only an exciting ecosystem to build on top off, the overall community is pretty amazing too. Fossdem went great and I liked a lot of the talks. I

Matrix is not only an exciting ecosystem to build on top off, the overall community is pretty amazing too. Fossdem went great and I liked a lot of the talks. I'm beginning to build a couple of projects on matrix and am really hopeful for its long-term success.

ognarb 6y ago
Same I think the Matrix community is amazing and very welcoming. Element is really trying to build a community behind Matrix and I think they doing it with a great success. They regularly invite community members to talk in video interview (This Week in Matrix). Alternative clients are actively encouraged and promoted and small business build around the Matrix ecosystem too. Shameless plug to the Matrix client, I'm contributing too: https://invent.kde.org/network/neochat https://invent.kde.org/network/neochat
- SubGenius 6y ago
  Unfortunately I'm running a very minimal arch + i3 setup now, I wonder if I can install Neochat without pulling in a whole lot of KDE dependencies? Neochat looks great by the way!
  - MayeulC 6y ago
    Nheko is quite good too, I mostly use gomuks and nheko, though I regularly fire up neochat too :) Not sure which are packaged, though. You usually want the latest goodies, so AUR/flatpak it is for me.
  - ognarb 6y ago
    NeoChat only needs Kirigami (for the UI), KCoreAddons (for the about screen), KNotifications/KWindowSystem (for the notifications), KConfig (for the configuration). Probably the KNotifications dependency could be made optional without too much ifdef but I'm not sure if this is something users want.
  - gpanders 6y ago
    If you use Weechat for IRC, there is a Matrix bridge plugin that would allow you to connect to Matrix from the command line.
tra3 6y ago
Apologies if this is offtopic, but why matrix over discord? I'm just starting to learn about both (still salty about IRC's demise).
- approxim8ion 6y ago
  Can't comment much on feature parity beyond the fact that Matrix has had most things I need, but Discord is proprietary software and is pretty hostile towards any third-party clients. Wouldn't be a good fit for FOSDEM, imo.
- SubGenius 6y ago
  Well, Discord is proprietary. I'm not super interested in the chat/IM aspects of Matrix. What I really like is the protocol and the built-in federation and pub/sub mechanism that you can use to build cool decentralized apps that pass events around.
- Arathorn 6y ago
  Discord is a for-profit unencrypted proprietary centralised walled garden. It’s forbidden to connect unofficial clients to their server, and there’s nothing stopping them from monetising your data/metadata in future. Matrix is a non-profit open source project that defines a decentralised communication protocol that forms an open global end-to-end encrypted communication network. Anyone can run a server to participate, and anyone can use whatever client they like. You could see Matrix as descended from IRC, and Discord from AOL chatrooms. The only advantage to Discord is that historically it has slicker UX than flagship Matrix clients like Element, more users, better room management, and exposes voice/video chat as dedicated chatrooms. Matrix is steadily catching up however.
  - jcul 6y ago
    And they can run any server they like too, of which there are many up and coming options - synapse (official / reference python implementation), dendrite (go), conduit (rust), construct (C++).
- eredengrin 6y ago

ognarb 6y ago

Same I think the Matrix community is amazing and very welcoming. Element is really trying to build a community behind Matrix and I think they doing it with a great success. They regularly invite community members to talk in video interview (This Week in Matrix). Alternative clients are actively encouraged and promoted and small business build around the Matrix ecosystem too. Shameless plug to the Matrix client, I'm contributing too: https://invent.kde.org/network/neochat https://invent.kde.org/network/neochat

SubGenius 6y ago
Unfortunately I'm running a very minimal arch + i3 setup now, I wonder if I can install Neochat without pulling in a whole lot of KDE dependencies? Neochat looks great by the way!
- MayeulC 6y ago
  Nheko is quite good too, I mostly use gomuks and nheko, though I regularly fire up neochat too :) Not sure which are packaged, though. You usually want the latest goodies, so AUR/flatpak it is for me.
- ognarb 6y ago
  NeoChat only needs Kirigami (for the UI), KCoreAddons (for the about screen), KNotifications/KWindowSystem (for the notifications), KConfig (for the configuration). Probably the KNotifications dependency could be made optional without too much ifdef but I'm not sure if this is something users want.
- gpanders 6y ago
  If you use Weechat for IRC, there is a Matrix bridge plugin that would allow you to connect to Matrix from the command line.

tra3 6y ago

Apologies if this is offtopic, but why matrix over discord? I'm just starting to learn about both (still salty about IRC's demise).

approxim8ion 6y ago
Can't comment much on feature parity beyond the fact that Matrix has had most things I need, but Discord is proprietary software and is pretty hostile towards any third-party clients. Wouldn't be a good fit for FOSDEM, imo.
SubGenius 6y ago
Well, Discord is proprietary. I'm not super interested in the chat/IM aspects of Matrix. What I really like is the protocol and the built-in federation and pub/sub mechanism that you can use to build cool decentralized apps that pass events around.
Arathorn 6y ago
Discord is a for-profit unencrypted proprietary centralised walled garden. It’s forbidden to connect unofficial clients to their server, and there’s nothing stopping them from monetising your data/metadata in future. Matrix is a non-profit open source project that defines a decentralised communication protocol that forms an open global end-to-end encrypted communication network. Anyone can run a server to participate, and anyone can use whatever client they like. You could see Matrix as descended from IRC, and Discord from AOL chatrooms. The only advantage to Discord is that historically it has slicker UX than flagship Matrix clients like Element, more users, better room management, and exposes voice/video chat as dedicated chatrooms. Matrix is steadily catching up however.
- jcul 6y ago
  And they can run any server they like too, of which there are many up and coming options - synapse (official / reference python implementation), dendrite (go), conduit (rust), construct (C++).
eredengrin 6y ago