[bronson]

I feel this. And it doesn't even cover the very first conversation I have with my users.

  "You want to install Element"
  "But I want Matrix."
  "They call it Element now."
  "I want to speak on Element?"
  "No you want to speak on Matrix using Element."
  "Uh."
  "Don't worry about it. Look, just install Element."
  "Well, I see Element and Element X."
  "Oh right. Well, do you want to video chat?"
  "What?"
  "Element X doesn't video chat well. If you want video chat and a more featureful but slower chat experience, install Element.  If you don't care about reliable video chat and don't mind rooms jumping around and not organizing them, but you want to subscribe to a zillion of them, choose Element X"
  "What?"
  "Oookay, let me explain. See, once there were--"
  "Can't I just install the Matrix app?"
  "It's Element or Element X. Do you want to video chat?"
  "Um probably?"
  "Well then Element, not X, that's the one you want to start with."
  "Start with Element without the X?"

It's so needlessly complex.

[jeroenhd]

Element X does video calls fine. It's been ages since it was the messy beta you describe it as. In fact, it does calls better these days. There's no good reason to go with Element Classic anymore, I don't understand why they don't just drop the old thing.

All the other things are just as true if you replace "Matrix" and "Element" with "email" and "outlook"/"gmail".

If you don't think the person you're talking to understands the difference between apps and emails ("I can email outlook people from my gmail?" is a serious question these days), just don't mention it. They're not going to get into the weeds anyway.

When I tried to explain the different "servers" in Discord to some a-technical people I had the same problem and disabling invites + not bothering with explaining the server concept seems to work out a lot better. I've given up trying to explain computer things to people who don't want to understand how the things they rely on work.

[bronson]

Does Element X video chat work with Element? Last I tried (a few months ago) it was awful, just randomly and completely broken, and didn't even have usable error messages.

[tcfhgj]

> with Element

Element Desktop?

Yes, just tried it between Element X Android and Element Desktop

[bronson]

With Element mobile.

[maelito]

Explaining to non-tech people that Matrix was email and Element was Gmail was easy to understand.

[bronson]

Email is also very confusing.

What is the Matrix equivalent to Gmail? Something that works reliably without having to understand all the background and acronyms?

[maelito]

ElementX works for non-tech people around me. No problem.

[opan]

I usually recommend Element X on Android, FluffyChat if they complain too much about Element X after using it a bit, and nheko on desktop.

It is really annoying that Element X is missing so many things Element had (you can't even do /me messages, markdown headlines aren't shown properly either), but getting someone to move apps is pretty tough, so might as well get them on the new one that will hopefully get better with time.

Also I never tell people about voice or video in Matrix unless they ask, and if they do I tell them I don't use it, it's probably not great, and to just use Mumble for voice and Jitsi for video.

[kelnos]

God, it reads like a slapstick comedy routine...

[Klonoar]

Just wait, eventually you’ll see the same project reps come in and try to do damage control. It’s like the cherry on top of it all.

[Almondsetat]

That's a strange conversation to have. Just compare it with email and they immediately get it

[pitchlatte]

tried this and it’s not always an immediate eyes-light-up. it’s a bit frustrating really, the chasm between what people know and what they need to know.

[tcfhgj]

Element X does video chat just fine by now, doesn't it?