[lawl]

> IMHO it's good enough

Im a huge fan of matrix and use it daily. Just to make that clear upfront. If you read HN you should use it.

I don't think it's ready for non-technical people. The federation part still causes issues. Occassionally messages get stuck etc. I would not feel comfortable telling my mom to download element to text me.

[geranim0]

FWIW my I made my grandma download element to text me and she's using it without problem

[CJefferson]

I can believe that, my problems have always arisen when people want to transfer to another device, or access from two devices at the same time.

I know such things are possible (it works for me) but many people get themselves in a horrible mess.

[GekkePrutser]

Using it from 12 devices now.

But yes the client validation and key exchange is something non technical users don't grok :( Even though they've clearly spent a lot of time making it as easy as possible.

[raybb]

For someone who is technical but not interested in self hosting so you still recommend it? Do you recommend starting with trying to get bridges setup or what's the best first step?

[lawl]

Download element.io, make an account somewhere. Matrix.org has a bridge for e.g. libera IRC, so you can use it like an IRC client with a free bouncer too for example.

Also since the protocol is http, a friend of mine lets his servers send him notifications about cronjobs by just curling an endpoint. Lots of things you can do with it.

[easrng]

You don't need to use matrix.org to use the Libera bridge. You just connect to #channelname:libera.chat like any other matrix room.