There is also Matrix (matrix.org), an open standard for decentralized communications. Our goal is to let all apps talk to each other - including Slack, Mattermost, and Microsoft Teams!

Check it out using any Matrix-enabled app: https://matrix.to/#/#matrix:matrix.org

agreed! This is what we're trying to do with Matrix (https://matrix.org)

I couldn't easily tell what it is from reading the homepage

we're about to rewrite the homepage to fix that :) (i work on matrix, obviously)

So ... what does it do?

it would be great if open source solutions like Telegram, Signal and Matrix (and others) would all interoperate. I work on Matrix (https://matrix,.org) but I don't really care which client you want to use - as long as we can still talk to each other!

There is Matrix (https://matrix.org) - we support messaging and VoIP via WebRTC. Currently we use Freeswitch for conferencing. Check out some clients here: https://matrix.org/docs/projects/try-matrix-now.html

What if there was a free, interoperable protocol that could connect anything to anything?

That's what we are trying to achieve with Matrix (https://matrix.org) - making apps connect either natively or via gateways/bridges.

We already have bridges to IRC, Slack, and libpurple! Ideally we would connect all services to each other, but obvs we can only do so for those who offer an API.

In Matrix, you can set up a WebRTC call with any Matrix-user, and the user can take the call in whatever Matrix-client he wants. We already have open source clients for web, iOS and Android!

thanks for the reply.

will look at that but still, in this moment and with the current api of skype, an instance of it must run in background somewhere.

but there are alternatives!

https://matrix.org is an open standard defining a communication protocol. The goal is to have an open ecosystem where any app can talk to any other app. You can talk to Matrix either natively - or via a bridge. We already have written bridges to IRC, Slack, XMPP and libpurple - if you visit #matrix on freenode you are also talking in the #matrix:matrix.org (https://vector.im/beta/#/room/#matrix:matrix.org) room in Matrix (and vice versa).

You can even connect to Matrix via your IRC client via http://pto.im/

Matrix is decentralised, you can run your own server (clone our server or write your own) and servers will create federated networks on a need-to-know per-room basis (see http://matrix.org/#about).

Matrix is free software, all our code is Apache2 licensed, you can clone it (https://github.com/matrix-org) and use as-it, modify it - or write your own client client and/or server (http://matrix.org/docs/spec/r0.0.1/)!

disclaimer: I work for Matrix.org!

OK, I'm rather impressed. I was expecting this to be, shall we say, at usual FOSS levels of user-friendliness for non-technical users, but the new client (Vector) is very easy to get started with.

I'd suggest making it clear that Vector is by far the most user-friendly way to use Matrix if you want to attract non-technical users to the service, but otherwise, well done.

Thanks! Vector (http://vector.im) has had a lot of UI/UX focus - but the nice thing with Matrix is that it enables you to pick the type of app/client that you like - and whether that's a web client like Vector, a terminal client like weechat (http://matrix.org/blog/project/weechat-plugin/), a mobile app, or even a different service like IRC - that's entirely up to you!

Check out http://matrix.org/blog/try-matrix-now/ for a list of clients/apps that support Matrix!

This looks incredible! Thanks for posting it.

Now, they mention that it can be used for decentralized machine communication too. I wonder if there any projects taking advantage of that.

But using those bridges, how can I be assured that someone on the other side has access to stuff like file transfers or code snippets, or any of the other features?

You can't. Bridging necessarily means least common denominator for features. But any matrix client should support the features listed in the spec.

this is very cool. has this ever been ProductHunt-ed?

EDIT: clicking on https://vector.im/beta/#/room/!cURbafjkfsMDVwdRDQ:matrix.org takes a long time to load. is this a consequence of the server ..or is the protocol slower ?

hi - it's not normally this slow - and the slightly increased traffic due to the comment above shouldn't have caused it. We're looking into it!

and thanks for trying it out :)

edit: AFAIK we've not been featured on product hunt

it is probably more relevant for the HN crowd to link directly to http://matrix.org/blog/try-matrix-now/

cool! we should interoperate :) (we being https://matrix.org)

ps. your https://actor.im/platform page 404s

that's exactly what https://matrix.org is trying to do!

I agree. We're building https://matrix.org (a free and open communication protocol) and we've realised that until we have a client with better UX than proprietary offerings, people just won't switch.

We hope that a Matrix-enabled client (https://vector.im is looking promising) will get the UI/UX right - and thus actually offer an open and free solution where you can run your own server (should you choose) and own and control your own data!

Wow. Vector is progressing along quite nicely! This new build has none of the rough edges that I remember from the last time I saw it. Congrats to the team for the awesome work!

My biggest issue with Matrix still has to do with its privacy properties though. Homeservers simply know too much about their users. End to end encryption from clients to homeservers appears to be optional in Matrix (and even with e2e encryption, metadata will still be fully exposed to homeservers), and message histories are stored in plaintext at rest.

Now, this probably won't be a huge problem in the ideal scenario where the Matrix network would be composed of a large number of small independent homeservers, but history has shown that decentralized systems that aren't fully decentralized tend to eventually converge towards centralization as it becomes more popular (just look at what happened to email). And in a world where Google, Facebook and Microsoft's homeservers might eventually have a combined market share of over 90%, the privacy aspects of Matrix leave a lot to be desired.

Yeah, it's pretty usable now. We moved from slack to matrix/vector about three months ago. The only complaint was text formatting and that has been fixed now.

Hey, have you looked at https://matrix.org? If you build on us, you don't have to fear ever being cut off - we're completely open source and free! We do also have a slack-bridge, and we're building more bridges - our goal is interoperability rather than isolated silos!