I have been using Matrix since I’ve been on Lemmy. It’s an open source encrypted chat application, and obviously Lemmy DMs are not encrypted so it’s kinda necessary for private communication. I have a few questions though.

Is there a community about Matrix on Lemmy?

Is Matrix technically part of the fediverse? I noticed it does not appear on fedidb.com. On a related note, what is the active userbase size?

Who is the developer/team and do they have an active presence on the fediverse?

Thank you for anyone who can answer my questions and also to the Matrix devs, I greatly appreciate you. But I am just curious about some of the details about Matrix which I already know about for Lemmy, Piefed, Mbin, etc. Matrix is an essential component of the fediverse ecosystem, so I think it would be prudent to have a greater understanding of it and potentially seek more cross-pollination and/or collaboration between the threadiverse and Matrix.

  • Shimitar@downonthestreet.euEnglish
    11·
    3 days ago

    Matrix is not fediverse. Matrix is created and controlled by a private company, which mask itself as acceptable by using a placeholder “foundation” that’s just a puppet.

    Luckly matrix is based on a bunch of “standards” so there are alternative implementations like Continuwuity (also written in rust and pretty fast) instead of Synapse, Fluffy Chat instead of Element-x and so on.

    But no, matrix is not fediverse, it’s not compatible and will never be (my opinion) because the commercial entity behind the matrix standards has no intention to open up that much the matrix ecosystem.

    Yeah, it’s not that good as it seems. Still, I believe it’s the best option and the most mature.

    • WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      3·
      2 days ago

      But no, matrix is not fediverse, it’s not compatible and will never be (my opinion) because the commercial entity behind the matrix standards has no intention to open up that much the matrix ecosystem.

      not compatible with what? ActivityPub? that’s no different from XMPP

      and which part of the matrix ecosystem is not open?

      • Shimitar@downonthestreet.euEnglish
        2·
        2 days ago

        Yes Matrix is not compatible with AP. Just a fact, not a judgment.

        Well, matrix is supposedly open but it’s driven by the company behind it and there is no real way to further advance the standards without the company agreement. The foundation is more a facade than e steering committee, not even the source code is managed by the foundation.

        But again, I use matrix myself so I am not shitting matrix, just pointing out some stuff about it.

        • WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          0·
          2 days ago

          Yes Matrix is not compatible with AP. Just a fact, not a judgment.

          of course, I don’t debate that. but you brought that up as a conclusion of matrix not being open. and it does not make sense. matrix not being compatible with AP is not because “matrix is closed” (whatever that means), but because the own protocol of matrix works vastly differently. its an entirely different thing. both are competing protocols for communication services. surely bridges could be developed, but these just cannot be “compatible”

            • WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              0·
              1 day ago

              that’s the part I understood that way:

              But no, matrix is not fediverse, it’s not compatible and will never be (my opinion) because the commercial entity behind the matrix standards has no intention to open up that much the matrix ecosystem.

              • Shimitar@downonthestreet.euEnglish
                1·
                22 hours ago

                It is a commercial entity, and they will never evolve the matrix standards to include an Activity Pub interface. Sadly, since they are the ones approving the additions do matrix standards, they also have the power not toke that to be.

                So, yes, while matrix is open, is not really open in the sense that anyone can add pieces to the underlying.