69 lines
6.1 KiB
HTML
69 lines
6.1 KiB
HTML
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<!DOCTYPE html>
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<html>
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<head>
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<meta name="charset" content="utf8" />
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<meta name="initial-device-width" content="1" />
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<title>matrix</title>
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<style>
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body {
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background: #f8f8f8;
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color: #222222;
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max-width: 600px;
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margin: 0 auto;
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padding: 2em;
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font: 1em/1.3 serif;
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}
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a {
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color: #3b74c9;
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}
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a:hover {
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text-decoration: underline wavy;
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}
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</style>
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1>matrix</h1>
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<p><a href="https://matrix.org/">Matrix</a> is a <font color="#c8324e">decentralized</font> <font color="#c732c3">open</font> <font color="#32c767">secure</font> and otherwise (mostly) <font color="#c78d32">bullshit-free</font> <font color="#3282c7">protocol</font> you can use for instant messaging</p>
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<h2>what</h2>
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<p>Let's break it down a bit, in order of importance:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>
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<p><font color="#3282c7">protocol</font>: matrix is not an app, it's a protocol (much like email or http). You know how can use any web browser to use http, like chrome or <a href="https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/">firefox</a>? Or any email client to use an email server? The same applies here!</p>
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<p>You can choose any client, like <a href="https://app.element.io/">element (web, ios, android)</a>, <a href="https://cinny.in/">cinny (web)</a>, <a href="https://fluffychat.im/">fluffychat (ios, android)</a> or any of the <a href="https://matrix.org/ecosystem/clients/">many other clients</a> to use matrix. Anything that can <a href="https://spec.matrix.org/latest/">speak matrix</a> (warning: technical jargon) can interact with the entire ecosystem!</p>
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</li>
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<li>
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<p><font color="#c8324e">decentralized</font>: You can host your own <a href="https://matrix.org/ecosystem/servers/">homeserver</a> (if you're technically inclined), or join an <a href="https://servers.joinmatrix.org/">existing one</a>. There's no one owner of matrix like there is with reddit.com, <s>twitter</s> x.com, or discord.com.</p>
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<p>Every homeserver can talk to each other - think of it like email, where a gmail user can email a outlook user. This was how the internet is meant to work, despite companies wanting walled gardens.</p>
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</li>
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<li><p><font color="#32c767">open</font>: The protocol, along with pretty much all servers and clients, are all open source. Not only that, you can <a href="https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/">propose changes</a> to the protocol yourself if you really wanted to. Programmers can develop their own applications on matrix - in a nutshell, 3rd party apps are not only allowed, they're encouraged!</p></li>
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<li>
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<p><font color="#c732c3">secure (and private)</font>: <a href="https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights#:~:text=No%20one%20shall%20be%20subjected%20to%20arbitrary%20interference%20with%20his%20privacy">Privacy is a human right</a>, so matrix can and does end to encrypt private conversations with strong, auditable encryption. (For nerds: matrix uses <a href="https://gitlab.matrix.org/matrix-org/olm/-/blob/master/docs/olm.md">olm</a>, which is in incarnation of <a href="https://signal.org/">signal</a>'s double-ratchet algorithm).</a>
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<p>Some applications such as iMessage are closed source, so when apple touts e2ee you need to take their word for it. Other platforms, like discord, don't have e2ee at all!</p>
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<p>Plus, clients have dignity and will ask you before sending telemetry, which is nice considering the sheer number of applications trying to shovel tons of data to their servers without warning.</p>
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</li>
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<li><p><font color="#c78d32">bullshit-free</font>: All of these points combine into a pretty potent cocktail. There's no ceo that can ruin anything. You can own your own data.</p></li>
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</ul>
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<h2>why</h2>
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<p>In case the overview/philisophical-ish reasons didn't mean much to you, here are more, concrete, reasons</p>
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<ul>
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<li><b>searching</b> and <b>unread markers</b>: iMessage neither lets you search past messages or jump to the last unread message in 2023?</li>
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<li><b>finer permissions</b>: You can control who can do what in each group</li>
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<li><b>larger uploads</b>: Most homeservers let you upload files larger than 8mb for free. And you host your own homeserver, you can set the limit arbitrarily high.</li>
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<li><b>spaces</b>: <a href="https://element.io/blog/spaces-the-next-frontier/">Spaces</a> are collections of chatrooms and other spaces, where each room can be in multiple spaces. Use them as a folder, or as to create communities. Once they "clicked", I firmly believe this is the best method of organization. (And yes, you can create a space that contains itself if you mess around enough.)</li>
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<li><b>invite only rooms</b>: Discord only lets you invite people with invite links. Matrix lets you send people invites directly. (There are other neat things, like aliases, if you have a public room)</li>
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<li><b>no phone number requirement</b>: You don't need a phone number to use matrix.</li>
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<li><b>no ads</b>: Telegram users will understand.</li>
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</ul>
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<h2>why not</h2>
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<p>Matrix is great, but it's not perfect.</p>
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<ul>
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<li><b>beta quality clients</b>: a lot of clients (including flagship element) behave a little janky or bad <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_accessibility">a11y</a>. This will be fixed in due time, but for now it won't be entirely smooth.</li>
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<li><b>sketchy notification support</b>: notifications behave a bit funkily - they're overengineered yet to rigid to support that many use cases</li>
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<li><b>no rbac</b>: permissions exist, but without the granularity <a href="https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/214836687-Role-Management-101">discord has</a> with roles and overrides. Don't get me wrong though, <a href="https://matrix.org/docs/communities/moderation/">power levels</a> are enough for the vast majority of communities.</li>
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<li><b>mediocre multi-user calls</b>: The tl;dr is element currently embeds a different voice call website <a href="https://jitsi.org/">jitsi</a></li>
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</ul>
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</body>
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</html>
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