A year ago I wrote up some thoughts on Matrix Big Issues. Here is another take on the medium-to-big issues that I think are important and interesting.

As you will see, these are just sketchy notes to record ideas I have been thinking about. I have not had time to research them and write them up further.

(My personal view as someone who runs my own homeserver and is getting involved with Matrix development.)

Big Issues

Matrix needs…

Easy Open Data

An ordinary user should be able to control their data (message history & media)…

extract their data
process (“re-mix”) their data offline using third-party tools
load their data, even if it is not a “true” history

Use cases

Alice and Bob register on Server-1 and exchange some messages. Server-1 goes read-only and is about to shut down. Alice uses her matrix client’s “Save to file” option to save “everything”: rooms, media, her account data, as far as the client can access it. Bob does the same but after the server has shut down, so his client can only save what it had cached. They register on Server-2 and import all their data. Everything works as well as possible.
- Perhaps they can choose whether to import a read-only history using original identifiers tied to Server-1 (better preserving external links) or create read-write rooms (etc.) with history populated by translating to Server-2 identifiers (more disruptive to external links).

Support in popular address books [EXTERNAL-ENGAGEMENT]

VCARD/CARDDAV, microformats2
Thunderbird-CARDBOOK, Evolution, Gnome, KDE, Ubuntu-accounts,

Mobile: 1st class integration [MOBILE-UX]

Contacts: call/text directly from Contacts, save to Contacts
Contacts: get Mx support into popular Contacts apps [EXTERNAL-ENGAGEMENT]
Calls: make/receive just like phone calls (dedicated buttons, mute media, etc.)
SMS bridge: smsmatrix needs work
telephony bridge: should be a separate component, serving multiple Mx apps

Mark-up system (for IM class)

A base mark-up system with subclassing, to bridge systems that have their own mark-up sets.
Seek common denominators plus extensions.
NOT like https://github.com/tulir/matrix-doc/blob/formatting-entities/proposals/2427-json-based-message-formatting.md
Find that composable/pluggable news media markup system I read about a few years ago

The Public Switched Social Network (PSSN) [EXTERNAL-ENGAGEMENT]

Industry Co-ordination
see John Ryan’s presentation in: https://blog.archive.org/2020/01/30/our-social-media-is-broken-is-decentralization-the-fix/ from which (PSTN -> PSSN):
1. Alternative operators -> alternative media operators
2. Interconnect technology -> server-server / backend data exchanges
3. Interconnect business agreements
4. Data / records
5. User equipment / experience -> new user apps / APIs
6. Regulatory framework (and transparent ethics)

Single Sign-On (SSO) [ONBOARDING, SERVER]

Why? Users hate multiple logins. Self-sovereign services must flock together.
Especially target easy setup for private and small group installations. (Enterprises can plug in to their existing SSO.)
Poor state of SSO in FOSS.
Work with other FOSS; decouple the id provider functionality.
see: keycloak.org, pomerium.io, portier.github.io
see: self-host systems that offer SSO provider: Nextcloud? Mattermost? UBOS?

Scripting, auto-responder, filtering, web-hooks [CORE-APPS]

What? Allow user to program functions in their user account.
Why? User of a digital comms system should be empowered to control their own automation, in case they don’t want GAFAM doing it for them.
Why? Enterprises benefit from automation of email, SMS, webhooks, etc.; private/small groups should be able to benefit as well.
first class core + user plug-ins
Simple config; like old home computers booted up to BASIC; e.g. manual config through a bot room, scripted config by file uploads.
eg: look at GAFAM: respond to calendar invitations, maps
eg: look at enterprise customer comms: SMS to query & top-up accounts, book a ticket

In decentralizing ids: option for forwarding one’s own DNS domain to a multi-tenant server [DIDS]

DNS is one method for addressing/routing to my id

Sign-up [SERVER, ONBOARDING, EXTERNAL-ENGAGEMENT]

“install on my existing server” (NextCloud, UBOS, Sandstorm, etc.)
link/guide to purchasing a domain name?

The route to Matrix for an average individual needs to look more like this:

invited by a friend to join Matrix
sign up to matrix.org or another big free general-purpose server
find the concepts and UI easy to understand
after a while, want a self-sovereign id
choose a self-sovereign id: either own-domain DNS or another form
add own id to the account, setting it as the main id, setting old id to forward to new id
want to bridge to WhatsApp etc.; current server doesn’t allow it
choose another server; easily move the account, id and history to the new server

Smaller Issues

And some smaller but still important and interesting issues:

Riot: Simple UI mode [ONBOARDING]

(see “Idiot mode”, https://github.com/vector-im/riot-web/issues/8952 )
Why? New user: Child/Parent.
Why? New user: friend migrating from WhatsApp.
Why? Power user (myself) wants minimal clutter in most cases.
in group rooms: show minimal metadata (typing notifications, read markers, etc.)
in 1:1 rooms: show little metadata
vastly simplify Settings (not just remove; organize with modes & search)

A reference system definition for server [DEV-META]

for each major use case (private, group, public)

a “Why Should I?” page [ONBOARDING]

Why? Because I want to persuade family & friends but I’m not good at persuasion.
one specifically addressed to a WhatsApp user with no tech skill
one specifically addressed to a FOSS project/group (e.g. Apache Subversion)
to quote, link, copy, share

Default Widgets/Integrations/Bots should include FOSS [FOSS-ALIGNMENT]

I’m looking at the default integrations (Modular.im)
especially provide FOSS alternative to each proprietary one
standard calendar (vs. Google)
peertube (vs. Youtube)
GitLab bot (vs. GitHub)

Responding to a blog that was linked [DEMO-APPS]

using activity pub etc.

Log monitoring: Synapse reporting Synapse logs to a room [DEV-META, DEMO-APPS]

Suggested ~2020-01-24 by someone on #matrix-docker-ansible-deploy; I commented.