The developers of the Matrix client Riot announced the change of the project name to . The company developing the program, New Vector, founded in 2017 by key developers of the Matrix project, has also been renamed to Element, while the hosting of Matrix services has transitioned to Element Matrix Services at Modular.im.
The need for the name change overlaps with the existing trademark Riot Games, which prevents the registration of its own Riot trademark to address dubious clones found in app stores. The second reason is the negative connotation of the word Riot, leading some to perceive the program not as a general-purpose messaging tool, but rather as a tool associated with wrongdoing and violence. Furthermore, there is currently a lack of uniformity in related project names — the company is called New Vector, the client application is Riot, and the server part is Modular.
Additionally, it has been reported that the beta testing of — the new Matrix client for Android, which will also now be called Element and will replace the old Riot app for Android. The new client is written in Kotlin and features support for voice calls, a new interface, a complete overhaul of chat room management, the ability to preview rooms, an improved notification system, simplified end-to-end encryption setup, and the ability to add widgets to chat rooms. Existing Riot users on Android will be automatically updated to the new client.
Source: opennet.ru
