Introduction

Richard Littauer: We are here today at Fosse in Portland, Oregon. Matthew Wilde and Stephen Weaver both work on the XMPP protocol or with it. The main project that I work on is really interested in helping people connect with their friends and family who haven't yet migrated over to an XMPP based stack. And we run a project called JMP that lets people get phone numbers and do SMS to end phone calls to communicate with their friends where they're already at.

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Episode notes

Guests

Matthew Wild | Stephen Paul Weber

Panelists

Richard Littauer

Show Notes

Hello and welcome to Sustain! Richard is in Portland at FOSSY, the Free and Open Source Software Yearly conference that is held by the Software Freedom Conservancy. Today, he engages with XMPP protocol experts Matthew Wild and Stephen Paul. Matthew shares about his project, Snikket, which aims to make XMPP more accessible for everyday communication among friends and family groups. Stephen introduces JMP, a project designed to facilitate connections using an XMPP based stack, allowing smoother transitions from other communication platforms. They explore why XMPP stands out against competitors, and you’ll get a glimpse into JMP’s transparent funding model, Snikket’s user base, and the open source projects it’s built upon. Our guests also discuss their future visions, highlighting the importance of open communication and the potential for growth in the XMPP ecosystem. Hit download to hear more!

[00:00:48] Matthew talks about his work with Snikket, and Stephen talks about the project JMP, which helps people connect with their friends and family using XMPP based stack and transition from other communication platforms.

[00:01:57] Matthew explains why XMPP is a better protocol for Snikket compared to Signal; the main reason being that XMPP is federated, giving users more choice.

[00:02:42] Matthew tells us how XMPP is different from Matrix and Delta Chat.

[00:04:06] Stephen agrees with Matthew, stating that JMP also supports multiple protocols and wishes to promote open communication, and acknowledges concerns around Matrix’s scalability and funding models.

[00:04:47] Stephen describes JMP’s straightforward funding model with customers paying a monthly fee for their services. Matthew reveals that Snicket’s user base is hard to determine due to self-hosting and different statistics.

[00:06:21] Matthew explains that Snicket is built on a variety of XMPP-based open-source projects, including Prosody, Conversations on Android, and Siskin on iOS. Stephen mentions that JMP is a five-member team.

[00:07:37] Stephen explains JMP’s business model, stating they function on a traditional business model where customer directly pay for the services they receive, and they operate as a cooperative.

[00:08:59] JMP has about 3,300 paying customers and Stephen explains they don’t have a dedicated marketing team, but they use blogs.

[00:10:03] Stephen explains that he and the other primary founder of JMP do not currently draw income from the project.

[00:10:54] Richard asks Matthew and Stephen about their long-term vision for their projects. Matthew explains his goal is open communication and Stephen shares his goal is create sustainable funding for the XMPP ecosystem.

[00:13:22] Why are Matthew and Stephen focused on XMPP? Matthew tells us he always had a passion for communication and Stephen emphasizes the importance of communication, stating it’s often overlooked and consumes by proprietary silos, which can be harmful.

[00:14:47] Find out where you can follow Matthew and Stephen and learn more about JMP and Snikket.