Re: Diversification [ branched from Re: conflicts in the gnu project now affect guile]

[pelzflorian (Florian Pelz)]

On Wed, Oct 23, 2019 at 02:57:03AM +0200, Zelphir Kaltstahl wrote:
> You did not address the other point I raised though: Dependency on a
> third party server (and all the implications, when/if it gets hacked
> again).

A matrix server and its coordination server could be hosted by anyone;
AFAIK it is simple HTTP.  Most projects would not host the
coordination server themselves though.

I do not know the legal implications from offering encrypted, private
communications which would AFAIK be offered implicitly when using
Matrix even though we do not need it.  It may be legally preferrable
to have a serverless communications medium that need not be hosted,
Gnunet-style (not to mention that supporting another GNU project fits
well).  My outdated impression is that the Gnunet project is far from
offering popular messaging apps though.

Additionally, few people have real security.  Most people download
software from all over the internets and run it.  At the very least,
people's operating system provider could be forced by law or by
crackers to push a trojan via update.  Claiming more security than
what can be offered seems dishonest.

> There is also the problem of non-searchable content. You cannot, as far
> as I know, search in a search engine through Discord or Riot messages.
> If content by tendency of "quickly solving the problem in chat" moves to
> non-searchable medium, it will mean, that searching in search engines
> does not benefit from those solutions.
>

There should be searchable logs.  I am confident searchable logs can
be implemented for Matrix like they can with IRC.

Matrix may be a step forward from IRC or it may not matter at all.
I do not know as I am not using synchronous communication personally.

Regards,
Florian