Matrix founder Matthew Hodgson is much easier than you think. Link to a meeting in element.ioThis self-designed chat app instantly leads to a video meeting like we’ve attended hundreds of times since the Corona crisis. The design is instantly recognizable: a large picture-in-picture display with webcam and microphone controls on the bottom, and a chat function on the side. The big difference is that this interview was set up over a decentralized encrypted network. Another difference is that unlike Zoom, Microsoft or Google, Hodgson has very different ideals of Silicon Valley capital raising and does not want to strive for maximum growth and profits. The founder of the decentralized chat protocol Matrix wants to return the Internet to what it was before, not with a single application or service, but with a protocol that can compete with http or smtp.

What is the Matrix?

Matrix is ​​a chat protocol, similar to xmpp, but with the big difference that it is encrypted and works decentralized. The Matrix standard describes the operation of a series of JSON APIs that allow IM and VoIP communication to occur. Matrix can be used to set up an IoT connection, but that rarely happens in practice. Matrix user logs into a file generous on the server. This can be a third-party server as well as a self-hosted server. Matrix protocol is united, which means it can work between different servers. This way, two self-hosted users can still talk to each other in the same room. The protocol provides many standard features that chat protocols should support, such as user management of rooms, management of profiles for the use of avatars and nicknames, and account management. Not very exciting, but the program does exactly what you would expect and hope from such a program.