People often ask which messaging platform they should use. Matrix? XMPP? Signal? Something else? The honest answer is there is no perfect option.
At the #OMN we’ve tried running #XMPP servers for years. From a #4opens prospective it’s probably the strongest foundation. Socially, though, it’s still trapped by the #geekproblem, despite years of outreach, we never found any implementation simple enough for normal communities to adopt at scale.
#Matrix is in meany ways worst, but for different resigns. Its governance and development have drifted towards an #opencore and #NGO model that doesn’t sit comfortably with grassroots #openweb values.
#Signal is the best of the bad options. It’s centralised and reproduces many of the patterns of the #dotcons. But people will actually install it and, sometimes, keep using it. That’s worth something.
The point is that these aren’t just technical choices, they’re social ones. Too much of the conversation gets trapped in feature comparisons, cryptography debates and protocol wars, while the real challenge is helping ordinary people communicate, organise and build trust together. That’s why #KISS matters.
Simple tools people actually use are often more valuable than technically perfect tools that remain confined to narrow inward looking communities.
The same lesson applies across the #Fediverse. We have seeded good technology, but we’re allowing the #fashionistas and chattering classes to dominate the conversation while practical grassroots organising gets pushed to the margins.
This is a recurring pattern, and one we need to compost. The future of the #openweb won’t be decided by having the cleverest protocol. It will be decided by whether we build communities around tools that ordinary people can understand, trust and participate in.
Technology matters, but social process matters more. That’s the path we’re trying to grow with #OMN and the #4opens.
@info
I agree, that communication is mainly a social problem. I'm using #Jabber/#XMPP since ≈ 2014 and almost all friends and family use it, too, because it's the best way to reach me. Even elderly people without much of computing background did not have any severe problems with #Conversations_im, #Monal, or #Dino. Only one person deinstalled it and went back to email.
But for "my" larger, less intimate groups, it does not work. Fortunately, they know how to reach me: Email or postcard!
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@info
"Signal is the best of the bad options." In theory, yes. In practise, it's not much better:
1. It still forces use Android/iOS, because their "desktop client" cannot work as "primary device", yet. I don't want to run Android/iOS, sorry!
2. It relies on a phone number as id, which is a bad choice in many ways.
3. It's 100 % dependent on AWS and I'm not willing to promote use of AWS uncompensated.
If I personally cannot use SIgnal, I would not promote it among friends, of course.
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@info can you point out what part of Monal isn't KISS enough for ordinary people to understand? I would be more than happy to improve Monal!
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