Is UX/UI and marketing really the reason XMPP lags behind Signal/Matrix/Telegram?
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wrote on last edited by [email protected]
Edit: Matrix isn't going freemium, it's introducing premium accounts to fund the matrix.org homeserver. Thank you for the corrections in the comments.
Matrix is going freemiumMatrix is introducing premium accounts and WhatsApp is adding ads, which is sparking the annual "time to leave [app]" threads.Users don't care that much about privacy, but they do care about enshittification, so XMPP not being built for it shouldn't be a problem.
Meanwhile, I've heard for years that XMPP has solved a lot of the problems that lead more popular apps to fail.
Is it really just a marketing/UX/UI problem?
If XMPP had a killer app with all the features that Signal/Whatsapp/Telegram has, would it have as many users?
If not, why does it keep getting out-adopted by new apps and protocols?
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Edit: Matrix isn't going freemium, it's introducing premium accounts to fund the matrix.org homeserver. Thank you for the corrections in the comments.
Matrix is going freemiumMatrix is introducing premium accounts and WhatsApp is adding ads, which is sparking the annual "time to leave [app]" threads.Users don't care that much about privacy, but they do care about enshittification, so XMPP not being built for it shouldn't be a problem.
Meanwhile, I've heard for years that XMPP has solved a lot of the problems that lead more popular apps to fail.
Is it really just a marketing/UX/UI problem?
If XMPP had a killer app with all the features that Signal/Whatsapp/Telegram has, would it have as many users?
If not, why does it keep getting out-adopted by new apps and protocols?
In my opinion Gajim for desktop looks pretty sleek. Cheogram has a 2020 look to it, but it's still great looking imo. Not everything has to have sleek gradients and overly rounded borders. I actually prefer 2015 UI where things were more boxy and very slightly rounded e.g. the old instagram app logo.
I've also gotten my friend to use Cheogram, and her #1 complaint is not having chat effects from imessage. I feel like if you just slap on integrated gifs and add a couple of UI animations, non-techies would be all over it. Maybe XMPP just needs some frontend UI pazazz for people to take notice
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In my opinion Gajim for desktop looks pretty sleek. Cheogram has a 2020 look to it, but it's still great looking imo. Not everything has to have sleek gradients and overly rounded borders. I actually prefer 2015 UI where things were more boxy and very slightly rounded e.g. the old instagram app logo.
I've also gotten my friend to use Cheogram, and her #1 complaint is not having chat effects from imessage. I feel like if you just slap on integrated gifs and add a couple of UI animations, non-techies would be all over it. Maybe XMPP just needs some frontend UI pazazz for people to take notice
Check out "monocles chat" as replacement for Cheogram. They look very similar but monocles comes with some functionality and UI tweaks.
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Edit: Matrix isn't going freemium, it's introducing premium accounts to fund the matrix.org homeserver. Thank you for the corrections in the comments.
Matrix is going freemiumMatrix is introducing premium accounts and WhatsApp is adding ads, which is sparking the annual "time to leave [app]" threads.Users don't care that much about privacy, but they do care about enshittification, so XMPP not being built for it shouldn't be a problem.
Meanwhile, I've heard for years that XMPP has solved a lot of the problems that lead more popular apps to fail.
Is it really just a marketing/UX/UI problem?
If XMPP had a killer app with all the features that Signal/Whatsapp/Telegram has, would it have as many users?
If not, why does it keep getting out-adopted by new apps and protocols?
Matrix going freemium isn't just inaccurate (they plan on adding a premium option only on their homeserver because they need the funds, which is reasonable since they're not growing magical money in their backyard) but mentioning it beside Whatsapp's ads is pure comedy. You don't need to stage things this way to bring people to push the team behind Privacy Guides to accept a few XMPP apps in their recommendations list. Just look at what the developer of Conversations ended up working on. Aren't you going to add that beside Whatsapp too? FFS, just support your favorite developers and stop trying to put down other developers of open source privacy focused software.
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Matrix going freemium isn't just inaccurate (they plan on adding a premium option only on their homeserver because they need the funds, which is reasonable since they're not growing magical money in their backyard) but mentioning it beside Whatsapp's ads is pure comedy. You don't need to stage things this way to bring people to push the team behind Privacy Guides to accept a few XMPP apps in their recommendations list. Just look at what the developer of Conversations ended up working on. Aren't you going to add that beside Whatsapp too? FFS, just support your favorite developers and stop trying to put down other developers of open source privacy focused software.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]I'll admit to misreading the Matrix news.
stage things this way to bring people to push the team behind Privacy Guides to accept a few XMPP apps in their recommendations list.
This is an amazingly bad faith interpretation of my post.