this post was submitted on 02 Nov 2023
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Privacy
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XMPP is like email, a very open standard that was designed for interoperability even with more closed servers that included proprietary features and extensions. It can be configured to be secure and private. Matrix is another attempt at a more closed protocol / ecosystem with the difference that you can self host it. There have been also multiple complaints about the amounts of metadata that Matrix scatters across servers.
The only thing I dislike about XMPP is that stuff like push notifications and proper mobile clients aren't as easy to get as they are with Matrix. Privacy and protocol-wise I would pick it any day - even if the only advantage is that is is considerably simpler than Matrix.
https://hackea.org/notas/matrix.html
Can you elaborate on what you mean that Matrix is a closed protocol? The spec is open and there are several server and clients to choose from.
Matrix is developed by a for profit entity, a group of venture capitalists and having a spec doesn't mean everything. XMPP is an open standard, truly open and if you notice you've had a lot of implementations of it all able to properly integrate with each other without effort.
The way Matrix is designed is to force into jumping through hoops and kind of draw all attention to Matrix itself instead of the end result. The kind of open collaboration where the protocol becomes mostly invisible for the end user isn't just the objective of Matrix.
iirc, Matrix is a non profit, idk where you're getting it's for profit.
There is the non-profit Matrix Foundation that functions as a thinly veiled front for the Element for-profit company that controls the Foundation in almost every regard.