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.
Depends on your definition of Fediverse, but I think most people would say no, even though it is a federated protocol.
The company behind Matrix it is known to vastly inflate user-numbers for scamming investors, but a somewhat realistic estimate for the openly federated Matrix network is 200-300k MAU (as shared by the Element CEO when pressed on a realistic number).
It is mostly developed by Element / New Vector Inc., but they have a non-profit front with the Matrix Foundation.
You didn't ask, but conceptually Matrix is closer to Bluesky than to the Fediverse. If you want a Fediverse equivalent for chat, look into XMPP/Jabber, which is based on an truly open standard and is democratically governed by an independent community organization.
Useful summary. If it's correct that Matrix is analogous to Bluesky (and perhaps Signal too, or possibly Ubuntu), and that the purer alternative is XMPP, then I'm taking that as confirmation that Matrix is what we need.
Bluesky, with its evilcorp backers with $$$ on the line, has far superior UX to the fediverse and is therefore an order of magnitude more popular. A world where Matrix takes off in a similar way is IMO much better for the cause of software freedom than a continuation of the present one where some pure but unusable version of XMPP putters along with almost no users for decade after decade.
Have fun with the next round of enshittification then 🤷
XMPP and the Fediverse works just fine as far as I am concerned.
Sure but you'll never have anyone to talk to except a few unusually principled eccentrics with tech skills. Between "XMPP forever" and evil big tech, taking a more pragmatic attitude might result in freer software for more people.
ime is hard to get normies to use Element/Matrix, to the point now I know this about Matrix (I've used Element for years and never realised it was closer to Bluesky) I'm going to look into what is functional and under active development in the XMPP space these days.