Wow, what a nightmare.
Every time I hear people on HN talk about Matrix as a potential alternative to WhatsApp I always think “I’ll try that” then I look at it for about 20 seconds before deciding it’s just not worth it.
Every time I hear people on HN talk about Matrix as a potential alternative to WhatsApp I always think “I’ll try that” then I look at it for about 20 seconds before deciding it’s just not worth it.
But it requires a lot of fiddling around to keep them running. Some bridges just stop working without telling you and this makes it hard too rely on them. Always second guessing whether it's just quiet or the bridge went down again. The signal one in particular is bad for this.
I try it every year and it gets better but progress is slow.
Also, be aware that your fully bridged matrix server is a prime hacker target, it captures all you private Comms and can impersonate you. Much harder to do with all individual apps. This is another thing I worry about.
So for these reasons I just test it every year but never found it production ready.
I mean it says it’s supposed to be simple, but then moves on to a load of command line arguments and something about an API and then suggests I build it from source.
I mean clearly they have a different idea on what simple means! This isn’t consumer level software yet.
Is there something I'm just too familiar with? I really like the project, so I've been through the site (and set up my own server) enough that maybe I'm glossing over a rough point.
My experience with Matrix has been a lot of confusion about it. I feel like I need to know about too much to even start in a meaningful way.
I've downloaded element now and it's simple, but there are lots of things they need to sort from a customer journey perspective:
1. Why is the Matrix homepage so technical? API's? HTTP Calls? What about staying in touch with my family? Contrast the two different opening statements (Matrix vs WhatsApp vs Messenger):
> An open network for secure, decentralized communication [...] Matrix is an open source project that publishes the Matrix open standard for secure, decentralised, real-time communication, and its Apache licensed reference implementations.
> Simple. Secure. Reliable messaging. With WhatsApp, you'll get fast, simple, secure messaging and calling for free, available on phones all over the world.
> Hang out whenever, wherever. Messenger makes it easy and fun to stay close to your favourite people.
2. It's not clear to me (a consumer) that in order to chat on Matrix I need Element, or that if I'm on Element I'm on Matrix. Or if I'm on Element my friends can have any matrix client, that might be called something else. So if I have Element and they have Nio that's fine. But Kik and Nio isn't.
These are just small details, but they would help a huge amount.
But because of this the usage itself is better described by the various client websites like element.