Matrix is going Freemium and WhatsApp is adding ads, which is sparking the annual “time to leave [app]” threads.
Users don’t care that much about privacy, but they do care about enshittification, so XMPP not being built for it shouldn’t be a problem.
Meanwhile, I’ve heard for years that XMPP has solved a lot of the problems that lead more popular apps to fail.
Is it really just a marketing/UX/UI problem?
If XMPP had a killer app with all the features that Signal/Whatsapp/Telegram has, would it have as many users?
If not, why does it keep getting out-adopted by new apps and protocols?
Matrix is E2EE as long as the room is. XMPP server/clients can enable OMEMO (as long as the server supports it).
‘Matrix’ is not going Freemium. Matrix.org’s server access is going freemium. You don’t have to use matrix.orgs servers to join or use the service.
An interesting alternative to both might be Delta Chat.