For all practical purposes Matrix is run by a private for profit and venture-capital funded company called Element / New Vector.
The Element server is so much more stable than synapse
What element server?
https://element.io/server-suite
Not sure if it’s truly independent, or just a management panel over synapse.
ESS is a product built on top of a precisely tuned synapse with custom additions, but it’s still synapse underneath.
I found a related thread to this on Hacker News. It was interesting to read: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19365968
It has improved a bit since then (2019), but mainly because of the detoriating funding situation forcing Element to push the Matrix foundation to try and survive on their own.
If the company went under you could continue to selfhost, right?
Yes, but there are IMHO better options like XMPP or IRC that are truely community driven and have stood the test of time.
IRCv3 the “next gen” version of IRC is woefully inadequate compared to Matrix. The IRC working group is only worried about the IRC client protocol and the effort seems to have largely stalled. That’s like defining the protocol for Lemmy servers and clients without the Lemmy server to server communication.
XMPP is a potentially more compelling option/a good option. I don’t know enough about the low level details to really debate whether XMPP is “better or worse.”
I don’t think either of these protocols being older qualifies them for superiority on the merits of “standing the test of time.”
It’s a natural result of this “design by comittee” approach. In the effort to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one.
I think if anything they have lost to the test of time
I would argue that IRC hasn’t managed to evolve with the needs and wants of modernity and that’s why the likes of Discord and Matrix have become so big.
“Element” was originally called “Riot,” which was an even better name than “Discord.” But, then, governments started adopting Matrix and someone realized “Riot” wasn’t corporate-friendly ¯\(ツ)/¯
mmmm, my favorite symbiote
governments use matrix for communication?
Yup. It’s used by the German Bundeswehr, and by France’s DINUM.
Here’s a Wired article from a few years ago about its adoption.
