KDE To Support Matrix Decentralized Instant Messaging

[phoronix]

Phoronix: KDE To Support Matrix Decentralized Instant Messaging

The GNOME project has been working on integration with the Matrix federated real-time communication protocol for a while, which can bridge to other platforms like IRC, WhatsApp, XMPP, and Telegram. KDE is also now backing Matrix and will be supporting it by its instant messaging framework...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=KDE-Matrix-Support

[bug77]

I've been using KDE for years and I had no idea it support IM in any way. Ever since Kopete went under, all I have seen was pre-alpha level of polish in IM applications. Nowadays it feels like it's all web or proprietary desktop apps.

[Serafean]

I've been using KDE for years and I had no idea it support IM in any way. Ever since Kopete went under, all I have seen was pre-alpha level of polish in IM applications. Nowadays it feels like it's all web or proprietary desktop apps.

Yeah, I too reverted to Pidgin.
What I don't understand is the purpose of Matrix: It seems to me that instead of fixing/improving existing IMs, they're reinventing the wheel.
Existing IMs: IRC and XMPP. Both have mature servers and clients, have vetted protocols (In RFCs!).
So: Why Matrix?

Current OMEMO support in XMPP shows that it can be improved.

[johanb]

The Fractal GTK client is really nice.
The GUI is sleek and it's written in Rust, it's simply a modern non-bloated chat app.
I wish I could say the same about the chat apps that my friends and family actually use.

[paupav]

Yeah, I too reverted to Pidgin.
What I don't understand is the purpose of Matrix: It seems to me that instead of fixing/improving existing IMs, they're reinventing the wheel.
Existing IMs: IRC and XMPP. Both have mature servers and clients, have vetted protocols (In RFCs!).
So: Why Matrix?

Current OMEMO support in XMPP shows that it can be improved.

Can you video call using different apps on different networks? Matrix is Skype, Viber, Discord, Slack, Email killer. You basically have something like email (@user:server.com) with a lot of modern features. It should be called E-mail 2.0.

[Creak]

Yeah, I too reverted to Pidgin.
What I don't understand is the purpose of Matrix: It seems to me that instead of fixing/improving existing IMs, they're reinventing the wheel.
Existing IMs: IRC and XMPP. Both have mature servers and clients, have vetted protocols (In RFCs!).
So: Why Matrix?

Current OMEMO support in XMPP shows that it can be improved.

IRC is obviously too old compared to the competition. I know... you can do a lot with IRC if you know the commands and everything and it's a protocol that will always be there, and it's 130% open and everything. But it's basically just a text messaging app and modern apps can do a LOT more than just that.

As for XMPP, I had high hopes for this protocol... but in the end it's unusable. There is no client (to my knowledge) that does it well. I'm talking about basic text messaging of course, but also voice chat, video chat, screen sharing, file sharing, extensibility, etc..

All this is available in Matrix and its client, Riot. As paupav said, it really feels like e-mail 2.0.

[brent]

The obvious problem with XMPP is specification fragmentation. The base specification of XMPP is nearly useless. You need to implement tons of extensions to achieve useful functionality. There is no consistent set of extensions that is widely supported by clients and servers, it's an unwieldy and extremely complex mess. This makes XMPP very hard to reliably use in practice.

[gbcox]

I've been using KDE for years and I had no idea it support IM in any way. Ever since Kopete went under, all I have seen was pre-alpha level of polish in IM applications. Nowadays it feels like it's all web or proprietary desktop apps.

Yeah, IM is hard - because for it to be effective you need not only like and use it, but it also needs to be somewhat popular to have friends, colleagues, etc. jump on the bandwagon. The only application I've been able to find that foots that bill is Telegram. It has a native client for just about every known platform - including Linux - and the Linux client is GPLv3.

I'll definitely look into matrix, but I'm not optimistic that it will reach any type of critical mass which would make it a true competitor in the already crowded IM space. The best solution for the Linux community right now for a mainstream IM client is Telegram.

P.S. Just did a quick look into matrix and found that it's desktop client for Linux is electron based - which means it's basically just a chromium web page. The Telegram client is Qt based - which again points to Telegram's commitment to provide a native client for every platform. Apparently, Matrix not so much.

[eggbert]

Hopefully we'll finally see some useful messaging clients begin to appear. I'm still stuck using crusty old pidgin with the skypeweb plugin... All other clients SUCK because there's no way to do proper conversation logging. The lousy official skype client only keeps messages for 3 months in the cloud. With pidgin, it logs them to actual text files... I have logs going back more than a decade that I can easily grep. This is insanely useful when you use IM for work. Sadly pidgin is starting to show its age but i've found nothing else that logs to simple text files.

[gbcox]

Hopefully we'll finally see some useful messaging clients begin to appear. I'm still stuck using crusty old pidgin with the skypeweb plugin... All other clients SUCK because there's no way to do proper conversation logging. The lousy official skype client only keeps messages for 3 months in the cloud. With pidgin, it logs them to actual text files... I have logs going back more than a decade that I can easily grep. This is insanely useful when you use IM for work. Sadly pidgin is starting to show its age but i've found nothing else that logs to simple text files.

Check out Telegram... it stores your conversations permanently (until you delete them) in the cloud - and/or you can export all or some of your chat histories.