For all practical purposes Matrix is run by a private for profit and venture-capital funded company called Element / New Vector.
Yes, but there are IMHO better options like XMPP or IRC that are truely community driven and have stood the test of time.
IRCv3 the “next gen” version of IRC is woefully inadequate compared to Matrix. The IRC working group is only worried about the IRC client protocol and the effort seems to have largely stalled. That’s like defining the protocol for Lemmy servers and clients without the Lemmy server to server communication.
XMPP is a potentially more compelling option/a good option. I don’t know enough about the low level details to really debate whether XMPP is “better or worse.”
I don’t think either of these protocols being older qualifies them for superiority on the merits of “standing the test of time.”
I found a related thread to this on Hacker News. It was interesting to read: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19365968
https://element.io/server-suite
Not sure if it’s truly independent, or just a management panel over synapse.
