[Arathorn]

https://modular.im gives a turnkey hosting solution for Riot/Matrix for what it’s worth.

Riot should be lighter weight than Slack, but launch (particularly if you haven’t used it in ages) can be slow, plus we’re chasing a startup perf regression on firefox atm. The main reason Riot’s better is that you can use your own server, participate in an open network, and have control over the software if some feature gets pushed out that you dislike. And you get E2E encryption :)

[Carpetsmoker]

Coolio on both!

I think the messaging on modular.im could be a lot better, IMO. I don't know what the relations between all the different organisations/people are here, but having all of "Matrix", "Riot", "Modular" is just confusing branding/marketing. It would be much better to have just "Matrix protocol", "Matrix self-hosted", and "Matrix hosted", for example.

Right now, it's not even immediately clear that hosted Matrix is an option from just looking at the Riot and Matrix websites.

Just my 2c from a casually interested potential Modular customer.

[feanaro]

It's true this is how a typical centralized commercial solution would be marketed. However, it's a bit trickier for Matrix since it's an open protocol with a neutral governing foundation and many client implementations.

Although New Vector (the company behind Modular) is currently driving most of the development of Matrix and Riot (the first and reference client), matrix.org itself is supposed to be a neutral network-related site. Notice the remark that it's controlled by the Matrix Foundation at the bottom of the page, and not New Vector.

That said, Riot does have a reference to Modular, but it's buried here: https://about.riot.im/free. I'd personally be fine with it being displayed somewhere more prominently (or at least under a more intuitive section name than "Free!"). I also think it would also be a good idea if the Riot page mentioned Matrix (or the Matrix logo) somewhere above the fold.