PeachPie 🍑European Commission: Matrix protocol lined up as a sovereign backup to Microsoft Teams
www.euractiv.com/news/commission-trials-europea…
…
The European Commission is looking into using Matrix as a “complement and backup solution” to existing internal communications software, the spokesperson said.
That means there are no plans for a Matrix-based solution to replace Microsoft Teams, which is currently widely found on the Commission’s computers, according to remarks by an EU official at a conference in October.
A different open source tool – namely the Signal messaging app, which is also a favourite with journalists – is fulfilling the backup role at present but the software wasn’t flexible enough for a large organisation like the Commission, the official also said.
The Commission is also eyeing another use case for the Matrix-based comms tool: It could be used to connect to other Union bodies in the future, which are currently lacking a common tool to communicate securely.
Last year, the EU official noted that there was already a working connection with the Parliament.
…
Matrix is an open source, community-developed messaging protocol shepherded by a non-profit that’s headquartered in London. It’s already widely used for public messengers across Europe, with the French government, German healthcare providers and European armed forces all using tools built on the protocol.
40 Comments
Comments from other communities
About fucking time… But knowing our corrupt overlord fucks, they will just use matrix.org free service and conclude “it’s not responsive enough, whelp, we tried…”
It’s the EC doing software. They will somehow find a way to pay at least double and it’ll be declared a success if someone manages to install it on a reviewer’s laptop.
Title is inaccurate. @Beep@lemmus.org please use the actual title. They are not replacing Teams.
I’ve always heard matrix was so so at best. So this seems unwise.
Matrix is good. Element is not. It is a terrible application filled with bugs that ends up limiting the quality of other client applications.
Rocket.Chat seems to be doing well in Europe as well; they recently released their own native matrix implementation.
I’ve heard element, the common server software and even the protocol itself are also simply meh as well … That’s not a great start… And the name alone is a huge problem for adoption
Element the server suite is fine - it’s just a version of Synapse with rust and Python bindings.
Hopefully the intention is to contribute and help make it into something that can serve large organizations reliably.
When do i get the jack in the back of my head, I want to get inserted like now…..
ohh not The Matrix…. damn
I dont know how they are going to get people in the goo pods but I wish them luck.
rmuk
pewgar_seemsimandroidhope estonia does get to matrix after Skype was killed.
WioumSweet! Element already has some work put into for secure gov use, plus federation is the reality at scale.
super_user_do
I Cast FistI tried installing matrix once on a VM at work. A lot of work to get it running and it refused to work for some reason. I guess there are better alternatives, something made with xmpp or even rocketchat
VictoriaIt’s Matrix.
jlow (he / him)I’m really hoping that significant public entities, such as the European Commission, really push for making open source options viable in a commercial setting. While it’s probably harder to maintain an open source OS, office suite or communications tool than it is to just use Microsoft’s proprietary options out of the box, it’s probably still the better choice in the mid to long term. Even if leaving aside the security and sovereignty aspects and presuming that it’s not even cheaper, I would still prefer to pay a bunch of admins and devs to keep OS running and well adjusted to your workflows than simply paying Microsoft for the pleasure of getting a licence.
Afyer the last messages that where compromising, i can imagine their interest in e2ee messages.
Wasn’t long ago Matrix was deemed a threat by Europe because encryption.
Funny how maybe encryption is a good idea
Not only the EC! Look at the talks from the last Matrix conference; France uses a Matrix-based messenger as the default messenger for its public service (Tchap), Element is included in the German OpenDeks suit and the Bundeswehr’s bwMessenger and the TI-Messenger also use Matrix. Its also used in Sweden, and as far as I know a bunch of other counties are testing Matrix for public sector communications, too (Belgium, Romania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, UK, etc.)
Matrix is not a software
idegenszavakThe article is correct, it was just messed up in the post title here.
I added it because otherwise the title is very ominous. While not technically correct, I still believe it communicates well.
I agree. You could use something like this, satisfying nitpickers:
Commission trials European open source communications software, Matrix protocol
Or
Commission trials European open source communications software based on Matrix protocol
Great, now the ecosystem needs funding to smooth out the rough edges.