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Open Source Infrastructure must be a publicly funded service. - Matrix.org (matrix.org)

submitted 7 months ago by lemmyreader@lemmy.ml to c/opensource@lemmy.ml

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[-] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 9 points 7 months ago

Imagine having NATO, one of the largest organisations in the world, leeching off your open source project, lol.

[-] poVoq@slrpnk.net 9 points 7 months ago

That's not what the article says, but I was also confused at first. They fund New Vector directly it seems.

[-] slacktoid@lemmy.ml 2 points 7 months ago

I mean the fact that they are scrambling for funding while being vital infrastructure to them i think is the larger issue. Like at this point i dont care if its new vector or matrix (tho ideally matrix) they shouldn't be begging for money when you supply NATO.

[-] poVoq@slrpnk.net 1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

They have been burning through 50 million euros of VC money in less than 10 years (and that wasn't their only source of income). I think most governments do not consider a glossy chat service to be worth that much, and they are probably right.

And yes I am aware government burn a lot of money on other IT projects but that's besides the point.

P.s.: to my knowledge the security relevant communication within NATO still happens through a special XMPP based system. This Matrix system seems to be only for business contacts what ever that means in the case of NATO.

[-] chebra@mstdn.io 2 points 7 months ago

@poVoq but that analogy would only work if the government was the only customer, footing the whole bill. More appropriate perspective is looking at how much would they pay if they got the same service from say Microsoft, or Slack.

[-] poVoq@slrpnk.net 0 points 7 months ago

Indeed, and they probably pay a similar amount.

My point was mainly that Element got used to having too much money and doing stupid things with it and now that they start having to operate like a normal software vendor they cry that it isn't enough.

I would be more sympethatic to their argument if they were actually developing an open standard like XMPP, but they run their own little incompatible fiefdom like all the other commercial vendors.