The https://element.io application (which is built on top of https://matrix.org/) continues to improve. It seems chat is an important aspect of maintaining relationships in a distributed team or community.
Are there examples of other OSS projects using matrix?
Many projects still use IRC and a lot of projects use Slack. Even though Slack is nice to use, it has its problems being a proprietary system.
Are there any downsides of Matrix/Element over IRC for community chat?
KDE uses matrix see https://matrix.org/blog/2019/02/20/welcome-to-matrix-kde
Neat, I was able to add the KDE development room to my Desktop Element app:
I was able to find it by doing a search and then explore public rooms. It is neat that element can connect multiple matrix servers (as KDE has their own server) – this is forward progress for decentralization.
I keep wetting my feet with matrix ever now and then. My experience is that slack is still a notch better in terms of client features and low friction to use it but it indeed is looking promising everytime I try it.
Gitter now speaks Matrix:
interesting we should connect yoe and simipleiot chat rooms to github perhaps
On IRC, it’s a barrier to accessibility / diversity of participants. I absolutely benefited from a ton of usage of tight knit IRC crews many years ago, but that is when there were very few developers worldwide and lots of barriers to becoming one.
So, chat systems become very important.
I broadly believe in protocols over products these days if you want to go the route of thinking about what to pick, so I’m rooting for Matrix as an open protocol.
And yes, the Gitter stuff is good news!
Just installed the Fractal Matrix client (thanks @khem for pointing this out) – so far I like it. It is written in Rust, and feels very fast – yay for native apps! I think we are getting so deadened by Electron apps we forget what native feels like. I still use Vim (vs something like VSCode) because it is so fast – there is no delay between typing and stuff changing on screen – it feels like my fingers are attached to the cursor. Fractal does not support encryption yet, but I mostly use Matrix for OSS work, so that does not really matter. (Still using Signal for most personal communication).
Neochat has released a new version:
