Also renamed the parent company involved in the development of reference implementations of the Matrix components - New Vector became Element, and Modular, a commercial service that provides hosting (SaaS) Matrix servers, is now Element Matrix Services.
Matrix is a free protocol for implementing a federated network based on a linear history of events. The flagship implementation of this protocol is a messenger with support for signaling VoIP calls and conferences.
Why element?
The developers report that they wanted to simplify branding in the first place. The inconsistency in the names created confusion that confused users with the question of how "Riot", "Vector" and "Matrix" are related. Now we can give a definite answer: Element develops Matrix Element client applications and provides Element Matrix Services.
They also explain the symbolism of the name: an "element" is the simplest unit in a system, yet able to exist on its own. This refers us to the Matrix's development intentions of working without servers, where clients would communicate with each other directly (P2P). Element is just one part of the global Matrix network, elements of which can be created by anyone.
However, unfortunately, there are more unpleasant reasons that cannot be ignored. The old name "Riot" was associated by some users with acts of violence, because of which, for example, some social groups refused on principle to use this family of clients. Riot Games Corporation also put pressure on it, creating problems with the registration of the Riot brand.
When choosing a new name, there was awareness that it was a widely used dictionary word and mathematical term. However, the authors state that they have conducted an investigation and believe that he has a fairly high chance of becoming successful due to his lack of employment with other brands. By comparison, searching for "Riot" is disappointing and leaves a lot to be desired.
Ecosystem changes
Now all the services and projects provided by Element are on one site - element.io. In addition to information unification, the site itself has undergone significant design changes, becoming more friendly and simple for the reader.
Perhaps no less significant change can be considered another reworking of the Element desktop and web client. The user is waiting for a new default font - Inter, a completely rewritten panel with a list of rooms, message previews and sorting settings, new icons and simplified work with data for recovering encryption keys.
Simultaneously with the renaming, the stabilization of RiotX was announced, which in the end was supposed to become the usual Riot Android, replacing the outdated implementation, but it became Element Android. RiotX was an initiative to redesign Riot Android to improve the user interface, improve performance, and rewrite the source code in Kotlin. The client boasts VoIP support and new functionality, although it has not achieved full parity with the previous version.
Presented P2P version of the mobile iOS client based on the Yggdrasil protocol (an experiment was previously conducted with the launch of self-contained Matrix clients in a browser and Android over an IPFS network).
All of these projects are in the process of rolling out versions under the new brand.
Source: linux.org.ru