Inside Matrix, the protocol that might finally make messaging apps interoperable

https://lemmy.world/post/993833

Inside Matrix, the protocol that might finally make messaging apps interoperable - Lemmy.world

ARTICLE LINK [https://techcrunch.com/2022/12/30/inside-matrix-the-protocol-that-might-finally-make-messaging-apps-interoperable/] ^just because I sometimes miss them when the post has a text body^ So, I kept seeing the option to list a “Matrix” username in my lemmy profile across various instances, but I had no idea what Matrix actually was. This is from last December so it’s not hot off the press, but it was a good read and I wanted to share it in hopes it might help add some context for anyone else like me wondering what it’s all about!

So why is Matrix allowed to survive when XMPP (the original protocol that made messaging apps interoperable) was killed when it started to thrive?

Google. XMPP was getting a lot of traction so Google started to support it in it's chat clients but then after they got people on Google products they slowly stopped making all features XMPP compatible. This caused non Google XMPP clients to have a sub part experience. This pushed people to switch to Google or lose the ability to talk to friends using Google.

This is a tactic referred to by "Embrace, extend, and extinguish"