So we do care about custom emoji, and they are obviously critical for folks looking for an encrypted Discord alternative.
However, right now we're not focusing on building an encrypted Discord alternative but instead a self-hosted WhatsApp (or Teams) replacement for governments: https://element.io/sectors, on the basis that they are the ones paying. Sure, we could have gone after Discord ~5 years ago and launched our own Nitro equivalent, and perhaps we should have. But instead we observed that governments REALLY want to run their own encrypted interoperable comms systems, and we thought that having Matrix used as the backbone for public sector communication would be a good way to prove and fund it sustainably. Ideally we could then use the public sector as a launchpad into other areas - a bit like how email & the web and even the internet spread from DARPA / NSFNet / academic etc to the rest of the world. After all, what better endorsement for Matrix than someone like NATO using it for comms?
As a result, custom emoji are stuck in the middle of the todo list still.
Some of the other features that we've worked on instead have been:
* Make encryption secure - i.e. migrating from the old C/C++ libolm implementation to the rust vodozemac implementation.
* Instant login/sync/launch - i.e. an entirely new sync mechanism.
* Rather than developing 4 different client stacks (js-sdk, ios-sdk, android-sdk and rust-sdk), converge on a single one: matrix-rust-sdk, and make it excellent.
* Rework the core UX to make encryption invisible (rather than full of confusing unactionable warnings and verification nags etc).
* Migrating to OpenID Connect for auth, so getting 2FA/MFA etc
* Public sector enterprise features: antivirus, regulatory compliance, secure border gateways, cross-domain gateways, active directory sync, SCIM sync, kubernetes operators, etc. etc.
Now, the plan is to use the govtech business to get back to funding mainstream Matrix uptake. But first we need to be able to fund ourselves to work on it.
I see your point, and it sounds like an invidious and existential position to be in and you have my sympathy to be fighting uphill against legacy like that.
Honestly though, I would contest the logic here:
> bit like how email & the web and even the internet spread from DARPA / NSFNet / academic etc to the rest of the world.
It spread because it was useful and revolutionary, not because DARPA specifically used it. Yes there were network effects, but the network effect overlap today between "NATO" and "a friend group hangout" is pretty minimal.
> what better endorsement for Matrix than someone like NATO using it for comms?
Honestly, if all I knew was NATO funded and used it, I'd assume it was enterprise-grade cost-plus shitware 15 years behind the curve, and with zero organisational interest, if not outright hostility, to it being used by anyone without a governmental chequebook and service contract in hand, and steer well clear.
It's OK to write software for NATO and governments for the foreseeable future, but the website still says "communicate with friends, family, communities and co-workers", so you can see why people might think it's still targeted at them and then wonder why it doesn't even provide the baseline of human-interest features people have been getting from other platforms for about a decade.
Not that it helps pays the bills to court Brian Everyman and his Warhammer group chat, I do realise that.
yeah. i'm not saying we've made the optimal choice here: for instance, we could have focused on growing mainstream usage at all cost without distractions of enterprise or govtech (similar to Bluesky), and assume that once we have enough users we'd be able to figure out monetisation somehow via a Discord Nitro style scheme.
However, we're at where we are now, and we're committed as to the current path as a way to get sustainable and then go back to supporting mainstream users (including Brian and his Warhammer clan). Perhaps a profitable govtech business can subsidise mainstream FOSS Matrix without having to do Nitro style value gates (which are tough to enforce anyway in a decentralised world).
> but the website still says "communicate with friends, family, communities and co-workers"
That was the messaging prior to early 2023, when we shifted gear to "get sustainable by focusing on govtech". Which is why the frontpage of the website currently doesn't say anything about friends/family/communities, sadly.
I just had to fish around to find out where you saw the old wording - i'm guessing it's in the footer for element.io/blog? ...which is a snafu due to the blog being Ghost and the website being Webflow.
All the best of luck. Genuinely, I hope it works out because I despise all the closed chat platforms and view the lack of a compelling FOSS alternative to be strange, frustrating and even embarrassing when someone uses it as an example of why FOSS just doesn't work for consumer software.
As for the wording, it's on the front page of https://matrix.org, just below the fold. Scroll down once and it's centre of the page.
Oh! Well, yes, Matrix itself would love to be a cosy safe supercharged place for your community (even if i’m not sure a protocol should describe itself like that tbh). Some clients like Cinny or FluffyChat are close to that. Element will also get there eventually.
In terms of why consumer FOSS software often sucks:
* Good UX requires top down product discipline: cathedral model, not bazaar.
* Product folks are less likely to contribute to FOSS, especially in their spare time
From the conversation it seems Matrix just grew bloated, when I look at what NOSTR is developing and the speed at which crutial features are delivered then it is quite a world of difference.
Those governments might be paying your bills for now, but you've lost the support from the open source community on the way to get there and soon be forgotten by everyone. I just hope one day we won't have the sad news of discovering that Matrix injected backdoors from the Israeli government to receive funding.
Thanks for the tipoff to look at 0xchat - it does remind me of where Matrix was about 8 years ago (in terms of maturity, speed of growth, features, etc). Good luck to them.
In terms of Matrix having lost the support from the open source community because Element hasn't implemented custom emoji yet... time will tell. In the end I suspect the open source community would be even more upset if Element had run out of money and exploded (although you never know; haters gonna hate :)
yup. the problem on the matrix.org website is a tradeoff between a very dry “this is a protocol”, like w3c.org - versus trying to give some more accessible use cases for people who expect to find an instant messaging network. the current wording oversteers.
However, right now we're not focusing on building an encrypted Discord alternative but instead a self-hosted WhatsApp (or Teams) replacement for governments: https://element.io/sectors, on the basis that they are the ones paying. Sure, we could have gone after Discord ~5 years ago and launched our own Nitro equivalent, and perhaps we should have. But instead we observed that governments REALLY want to run their own encrypted interoperable comms systems, and we thought that having Matrix used as the backbone for public sector communication would be a good way to prove and fund it sustainably. Ideally we could then use the public sector as a launchpad into other areas - a bit like how email & the web and even the internet spread from DARPA / NSFNet / academic etc to the rest of the world. After all, what better endorsement for Matrix than someone like NATO using it for comms?
As a result, custom emoji are stuck in the middle of the todo list still.
Some of the other features that we've worked on instead have been:
* Making encryption stable. As hilarious as https://www.reddit.com/r/elementchat/comments/1evz3kk/unable... is.
* Make encryption secure - i.e. migrating from the old C/C++ libolm implementation to the rust vodozemac implementation.
* Instant login/sync/launch - i.e. an entirely new sync mechanism.
* Rather than developing 4 different client stacks (js-sdk, ios-sdk, android-sdk and rust-sdk), converge on a single one: matrix-rust-sdk, and make it excellent.
* Rework the core UX to make encryption invisible (rather than full of confusing unactionable warnings and verification nags etc).
* Native Matrix-encrypted scalable voip/video calling.
* Migrating to OpenID Connect for auth, so getting 2FA/MFA etc
* Public sector enterprise features: antivirus, regulatory compliance, secure border gateways, cross-domain gateways, active directory sync, SCIM sync, kubernetes operators, etc. etc.
Now, the plan is to use the govtech business to get back to funding mainstream Matrix uptake. But first we need to be able to fund ourselves to work on it.