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?

XMPP doesn’t have encryption integrated. There were a few attempts at shoehorning encryption on top of it in a backwards-compatible manner, but they had issues with interoperability between clients, and also weren’t supported by all of them.

Usually this isn’t such a big deal, but I think that there’s a big overlap between people who care about encryption and people who care about federated IM systems.