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TBH, I’m surprised to hear Element (X) described like this. I thought the space that Matrix was intended for was group chat, similar to IRC, Slack, Discord, Ma

by cpach 2y ago

TBH, I’m surprised to hear Element (X) described like this. I thought the space that Matrix was intended for was group chat, similar to IRC, Slack, Discord, Mattermost, Zulip, etc. Now you say that Element X is a replacement for WhatsApp/iMessage/Signal, which to me is a totally different kind of application. Basically, I see WhatsApp et al as a better way to send SMS (E2EE) or send vacation pics to my family (without broadcasting them on Instagram) whereas if I would want to discuss a tricky PostgreSQL issue (or whatever) I would kind of expect the project to have some kind of presence on IRC, Slack, Discord or similar. So now I’m curious about the change of course. Would be very interesting to hear the rationale for this.

Arathorn 2y ago
Matrix is intended for chat of any kind. The 'messenger' featureset (i.e. WhatsApp/iMessage) is basically a subset of the 'Team Collaboration' (i.e. Slack/Discord/Teams) featureset. Historically Element has tried to handle both use cases, but it spread us too thin and we didn't pull it off. So with Element X, we've very deliberately focused on the Messenger use case at first (also driven by the fact that we have more paying customers asking "i want to run my own decentralised WhatsApp/Signal alternative" than "i want to run my own encrypted Teams alternative") - and it is unrecognisably more polished and focused and usable than normal Element. To quote someone in one of the community Element X rooms a few days ago: > just downloaded element x from f-droid and wowza it just.. loads instantly? can't believe i now live in the age of element being faster than discord Once the 'messenger' use case is fully launched (aiming for "end of summer"), we'll then carefully add the team-collaboration features (spaces, threads, etc) back in - and hopefully end up with something which can be used for both.

by cpach 2y ago

Arathorn 2y ago

Matrix is intended for chat of any kind. The 'messenger' featureset (i.e. WhatsApp/iMessage) is basically a subset of the 'Team Collaboration' (i.e. Slack/Discord/Teams) featureset. Historically Element has tried to handle both use cases, but it spread us too thin and we didn't pull it off. So with Element X, we've very deliberately focused on the Messenger use case at first (also driven by the fact that we have more paying customers asking "i want to run my own decentralised WhatsApp/Signal alternative" than "i want to run my own encrypted Teams alternative") - and it is unrecognisably more polished and focused and usable than normal Element. To quote someone in one of the community Element X rooms a few days ago: > just downloaded element x from f-droid and wowza it just.. loads instantly? can't believe i now live in the age of element being faster than discord Once the 'messenger' use case is fully launched (aiming for "end of summer"), we'll then carefully add the team-collaboration features (spaces, threads, etc) back in - and hopefully end up with something which can be used for both.