Matrix the protocol, yeah, is fine. The clients? Only Element Classic seems to work decently on Android, the newer one sucks. The other half dozen clients are atrocious. On desktop Element is fine, but I was experiencing extreme latency, however that was during the initial “rush” to find a Discord alternative a week or so ago.
But, my biggest gripe is trying to explain what Matrix is to other people. Then have to explain what federation is, then the fediverse. Then I get dumb questions of “Why do I need to create a Matrix account to use Element? Can’t I just use a Element account?” which either means they didn’t understand my previous explanation or they weren’t paying attention.
With Fluxer or Root or whatever, I can say “Go make an account on Fluxer.app and then go use the web version until the app is released” and everyone understands that just fine.
Yeah, I’ll have to work on my explanation there as well.
As I understand it, Matrix is a standard for doing Discord-like things (and other stuff as well, but never mind that), but it’s also an organization that hosts a service that follows that standard - you can make an account there, and use whatever client you like to join servers and do Discord-like things.
But anyone could host such a service, or make such clients, so a big tech firm could never fully own Matrix - in the same way that they can never fully own email.
Matrix seems pretty mature, and has screen sharing with audio?
Matrix the protocol, yeah, is fine. The clients? Only Element Classic seems to work decently on Android, the newer one sucks. The other half dozen clients are atrocious. On desktop Element is fine, but I was experiencing extreme latency, however that was during the initial “rush” to find a Discord alternative a week or so ago.
But, my biggest gripe is trying to explain what Matrix is to other people. Then have to explain what federation is, then the fediverse. Then I get dumb questions of “Why do I need to create a Matrix account to use Element? Can’t I just use a Element account?” which either means they didn’t understand my previous explanation or they weren’t paying attention.
With Fluxer or Root or whatever, I can say “Go make an account on Fluxer.app and then go use the web version until the app is released” and everyone understands that just fine.
its best to just tell them about Element, and leave the Matrix name out. the curious ones will find it out.
this could work: “when you want to try a different client than Element, you can use the same login for that too”
Yeah, I’ll have to work on my explanation there as well.
As I understand it, Matrix is a standard for doing Discord-like things (and other stuff as well, but never mind that), but it’s also an organization that hosts a service that follows that standard - you can make an account there, and use whatever client you like to join servers and do Discord-like things.
But anyone could host such a service, or make such clients, so a big tech firm could never fully own Matrix - in the same way that they can never fully own email.
Sound right?