Today’s update sees Video Rooms entering beta in Element, and a new search experience exiting beta! You can’t say we don’t spoil you 😉!

Back in March, we announced the first beta release of Element Call, our voice and video conferencing app powered entirely by Matrix. Since then, not only have we been busily using it for all our own internal small-group meetings (it currently only works with up to eight participants - give or take) but we’ve also been working hard on improving and updating it. That makes it really exciting to announce our first major update to Element Call: Beta 2. So, what does this update bring?

Forrester, the research and advisory firm, recently published its Now Tech: Secure Communications, Q2 2022 report which provides an overview of 25 providers and helps enterprises understand the value of a secure communications platform. And (we’re all flushed in the face), Element is listed as one of the secure communication providers (available to view here).

There are many messaging apps out there, but surprisingly little choice. Yet you’ll find most people use messaging apps that only fulfil one (or two if you’re lucky) of those requirements. But why settle for less when you can have it all?! Let’s run through the main problems with most messaging apps, and then take a look at Element.

Around 2.7 billion people are frontline workers - that’s about 80 percent of the world’s working population. It covers a huge range of roles, spanning in-home support, hospitality, agriculture, logistics, construction, emergency services and much more. Being on the frontline means that people are often operating from a mobile device. So it’s easy to understand why 53% of frontline workers end up using unapproved consumer-grade messaging apps at work.

Our team has been working hard behind the scenes on a dedicated enterprise installer for on-premise deployments of Element - and now it’s ready for launch! Many of our larger customers (especially those in areas such as public sector, telco, utilities and education) have strict compliance obligations that necessitate them hosting data on-premise. We’re committed to ensuring anyone can deploy Element on-premise securely, swiftly and without compromises.

Trying to keep track of several conversations in one timeline at once can often feel (and look) like long division! Cross-talk, replies, and reactions make your timeline feel disjointed and messy. It’s less than ideal, especially if you use Element to enhance your productivity. Threads help you separate conversations from the main timeline.

A couple of weeks ago the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Council of Europe agreed on the main guidelines for the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The DMA is legislation aiming to create a more competitive digital market in Europe by mandating competition-friendly practices from the ‘gatekeepers’ i.e. the largest tech companies (see below for full definition).

The final text will probably be available around mid-May and voted for in early July, but the latest version we have seen lists the following.

On Thursday, March 24th, the EU Parliament held its last debate on the Digital Markets Act (DMA), and decided how strongly to bring Big Tech to heel. The EU’s intentions to ‘ensure fair and open digital markets’ have always been good, but there have been many points in the negotiations where the outcome could have been toothless - in particular around the interoperability obligation.