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I mean, if that's it... Imagine WhatsApp or iMessage allowing their users to talk to Matrix, but not make it as easy to find people there as on their own servic
by Vinnl 4y ago
I mean, if that's it... Imagine WhatsApp or iMessage allowing their users to talk to Matrix, but not make it as easy to find people there as on their own services. People who might've been tempted to join Matrix before would probably no longer be, because they'll feel they can get all that with their existing service, while they'd still pressure Matrix users to join that service because the experience is subpar from their perspective.
- ignoramous 4y agoTrue, network effects are hard to beat, but one better hope the network builds around the product one themselves built around their federated protocol.
- Arathorn 4y agoIt works both ways. With an open network, someone can build a better client than WA or iMessage and then there is social pressure to converge on the better one. The best app ends up winning rather than the one with the biggest walled garden. The consumers win; complacent gatekeepers lose.
- Vinnl 4y agoThanks for chiming in! But the problem I see here is that WA or iMessage (or whatever incumbent) needn't be fully open on a network. They can give themselves access to the open network, without fully opening up their own network to the rest of the network, and then by virtue of being the incumbent, thereby prevent better clients from taking off. (And that, of course, is the embrace & extend part. Once they're the dominant player again...)