Matrix itself is an open source project + non-profit foundation (https://matrix.org/foundation), and hasn’t acquired anything :)
Element (the startup which makes the flagship Matrix client) did acquire Gitter from Gitlab though, in order to support Gitter and its communities and fund the integration into Matrix.
Are those meaningful distinctions? It looks like a startup pushing the protocol they are developing by buying the competitors.
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arathornMatrix.org project lead
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It is a meaningful distinction, which is the only reason i was making it.
Matrix predates Element by 3 years, and Matrix is dedicated non-profit software foundation. There are loads of (massive) commercial companies building on the protocol; better known ones include Thales, Kudelski & Ericsson.
Separately, Element is a startup created by the team who created Matrix. It’s true that Element invests a lot of time into pushing Matrix (given if Matrix is successful, Element is successful), and Element acquired Gitter in order to push the protocol - not because it’s a competitor, but to use it a showcase for integrating Matrix into an existing chat platform, to encourage more projects to do so.
But just as you wouldn’t describe Google or Mozilla acquiring Foo as “The Web acquired Foo” or “The W3C acquired Foo”, it’s very inaccurate to describe Element acquiring Gitter as “Matrix acquiring Gitter”.
Element is a startup created by the team who created Matrix.
This is probably where the ‘confusion’ comes from. Just because the Matrix foundation thing and Element are technically/legally separate companies doesn’t mean that the people involved are separate, motivations are separate, etc…
Matrix has two forms of IRC bridging; one that is enabled on a per-user basis and one that is enabled on a per-room basis. They are both quite awkward to set up, but I’ve been using the room-based bridging in a few freenode channels I administer, and it’s worked seamlessly for almost a year now.
But I agree that the user-level IRC bridging is not that great. If you want to use Matrix to talk to freenode folks, please consider asking the channel ops to set up “plumbed rooms” that are much more reliable.
Such a big fan of Matrix. Glad to see this acquisition go well!
Oh no, this is not an acquisition, I think you mean adoption. Warm and fuzzy open source community adoption.
In cased you’ve missed it - Matrix bought Gitter from GitLab.
https://blog.gitter.im/2020/09/30/gitter-element-acquisition/
Matrix itself is an open source project + non-profit foundation (https://matrix.org/foundation), and hasn’t acquired anything :)
Element (the startup which makes the flagship Matrix client) did acquire Gitter from Gitlab though, in order to support Gitter and its communities and fund the integration into Matrix.
Are those meaningful distinctions? It looks like a startup pushing the protocol they are developing by buying the competitors.
It is a meaningful distinction, which is the only reason i was making it.
Matrix predates Element by 3 years, and Matrix is dedicated non-profit software foundation. There are loads of (massive) commercial companies building on the protocol; better known ones include Thales, Kudelski & Ericsson.
Separately, Element is a startup created by the team who created Matrix. It’s true that Element invests a lot of time into pushing Matrix (given if Matrix is successful, Element is successful), and Element acquired Gitter in order to push the protocol - not because it’s a competitor, but to use it a showcase for integrating Matrix into an existing chat platform, to encourage more projects to do so.
To be crystal clear, The Matrix.org Foundation (https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/11648710) and Element (aka New Vector, https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/10873661) are literally different companies.
But just as you wouldn’t describe Google or Mozilla acquiring Foo as “The Web acquired Foo” or “The W3C acquired Foo”, it’s very inaccurate to describe Element acquiring Gitter as “Matrix acquiring Gitter”.
This is probably where the ‘confusion’ comes from. Just because the Matrix foundation thing and Element are technically/legally separate companies doesn’t mean that the people involved are separate, motivations are separate, etc…
was the Gitter community under distress prior to the acquisition?
Considering the rising number of projects that only offer support through Discord, or other proprietary platforms, I would assume so.
I think the most charitable description would be that GitLab largely left Gitter to its own devices.
Thanks for clarifying!
Yeah? I’m still lukewarm on Matrix since moving over from Keybase when Zoom bought the latter.
Matrix’s IRC bridge is awkward, Gitter’s IRC bridge is much better - I wonder if they’re going to switch and give IRC diehards a hard time.
Matrix has two forms of IRC bridging; one that is enabled on a per-user basis and one that is enabled on a per-room basis. They are both quite awkward to set up, but I’ve been using the room-based bridging in a few freenode channels I administer, and it’s worked seamlessly for almost a year now.
But I agree that the user-level IRC bridging is not that great. If you want to use Matrix to talk to freenode folks, please consider asking the channel ops to set up “plumbed rooms” that are much more reliable.
If anyone from gitter is around, please remove the big ugly black [m] from every message, it is really distracting.
Yup, the visuals need to be tweaked.
If anyone wants to take a stab at updating this, the CSS is here.
Oh this sounds positive.