this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2025
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Truth is, to get right to the point, the fact that Matrix was accompanied by a for-profit entity, funded by venture capital was the biggest mistake that Matrix as a project has ever made.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

XMPP chads, we won!

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Today I learned that VC funded companies are not allowed to invest in open source projects. Matrix would be nowhere near its current state if it wasn’t thanks to Element. It’s not the best, but it’s far from “cooked”.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 week ago (2 children)

This seems a bit of an odd take. Matrix.org making their server freemium is up to them - charging some users to use the service (not the software) is a way of keeping the lights on. Better that than ads or selling user data. Lots of privacy focused orgs do the same - Proton, Tuta, Mailbox, Mullvad, IVPN. If people also have an issue with Element - don't use Element, use one of the other apps.

If people are this upset, its not impossible (or even that hard) to migrate to a different server - or host your own.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Yeah they have the rights to do it, doesn't mean it's a good thing to do, doesn't mean it won't negatively impact the future of the project.

Redis had the rights to change the license of redis, look at where that led them.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 week ago

Hard to see how them choosing to charge money to access their server will affect the future of the project, even them choosing to not run a free for anyone server any more wouldn't necessarily affect the future of the project because the project is not to provide a free for all server but to develop software. Either way, them trying to find a way to keep the server operating certainly doesn't mean 'Matrix is cooked'.

As far as Redis goes, as I understand it, they moved their software away from an open source license. There's zero indication Matrix are going to do the same thing.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I think the problem is that the Matrix Foundation (non-profit org) is being slowly cannibalized by Element (for-profit, VC-funded) which ends up making their costs and profit expectations a lot higher.

Right now this is only impacting the matrix.org homeserver. However, this could eventually end up impacting protocol-level design choices that harm other instances as well. Sure, you could fork the protocol and clients, but now we're talking about taking up the work that an entire organization had previously been doing. Not impossible if an existing organization like the FSF or Linux Foundation started backing something, but not a great place to be in either.

Edit: grammar

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

"slowly being cannibalised" at the start the foundation was just new vector/element putting on a funny hat. It's got less bad as time has gone on tbh

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I mean I can still self host, what's that got to do with anything? Their server is gonna be freemium so what?

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It's clear matrix.org is being run by scumbags trying to take advantage of useful idiots.

The protocol itself seems good, though.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Eh, as long as they don't fuck with the protocol I don't really care. NGL. The community can always maintain a list of instances to defederate from. That can also include matrix.org

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

fucking with the protocol is what they do the most

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

Can you elaborate how? I'm curious

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Dude...y'all are dumb as hell. If this isn't written by AI, I'll eat my hat.

This dumbshit posted an article about something that confused a searchable VC firm called "Matrix". This has zero to do with the Matrix.org that I think(?) it is intended to talk about.

Simple proof: the word "venture" is mentioned just once in the entire post, and it can't dig deeper into any other claims it makes.

This is simply a post confusing "Matrix Partners", and using readily available information about that company, and trying to transpose it on Matrix.org which is not the same thing.

AI has truly killed the internet.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It seems in line with everything mentioned here:

https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/10/new-vector-scores-8-5m-to-plug-more-users-into-its-open-decentralized-messaging-matrix/

This being the sad outcome, 5 years later.

Hopefully you're wearing a cinnabon on your head.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

6 years ago, first of all.

Second, this project has transitioned literally everything away from that.

It literally has no relevant point.

Just someone ranting against shit they known nothing about, your link going further to prove that point.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

The article shortens venture capital to VC. It also didn't confuse the Matrix Foundation with a VC firm of the same name, it's talking about Element (formerly Riot). Like, the article says this in pretty simple English, I'm genuinely confused how you could've missed it:

In roughly the beginning, there was two organizations that came out of the project: The Matrix Foundation and New Vector Ltd / Riot / Element. The idea was for New Vector Ltd to carry out the necessary work and bring in the necessary funding for the Matrix Foundation to thrive. Or well, so I've been told.

They had multiple funding rounds lead by the likes of status.im, Automattic, the AI and Web3 company protocol labs and others; You get the gist, lots of VC and similar funding also a questionable amount of “Web3” and ~~bullshit generation~~ AI. Element was then tasked with using that to build the software that would power Matrix.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

We got that. It literally provides no backstory or proof to any claims made though.

Like you just quoted something...okay, so if that's the case, links, because it would be publicly known.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Second biggest mistake next to them working for law enforcement.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

So if FBI has an internal Lemmy instance we should start boycotting Lemmy?

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

As far as I know Lemmy didn’t profit off of making their instance, nor do they have contracts with law enforcement to implement it for them. The same cannot be said for Matrix Foundation.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

The Matrix Foundation and Element/New Vector are different orgs, and it's Element with the government contracts

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

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