
Ask HN: Can we enumerate FOSS chat, messaging, voip and collaboration software? - dmos62
Please list noteworthy FOSS that provides any of the below: instant or non-instant messaging, voip, forum, discussion, collaboration, etc.<p>To start off, I&#x27;ll mention mailing lists, irc, matrix protocol[1], ring[2], tox[3].<p>[1] https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;matrix-org
[2] https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ring.cx
[3] https:&#x2F;&#x2F;tox.chat
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PaulHoule
Long lists of "chat" applications that are open source or not are the main
problem I have with those applications. The dominant theme in this space is
that unlike email or the web, no standard has emerged, so there are always new
things like "Facebook Instant Messenger" that seem to be "AOL Instant
Messenger 0.999999 or 1.000001" but aren't compatible.

If you are involved with a few work projects, family, open source projects,
etc. you have to have ten or so communications apps open, deal with the
overhead on startup, software updates, overhead while it is running, all the
various foibles of these things.

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dmos62
Agreed. I associate this with greedy closed software that relies on network
ownership and overly tolerant consumers.

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qznc
Done: [https://github.com/Kickball/awesome-
selfhosted](https://github.com/Kickball/awesome-selfhosted)

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webtechgal
Awesome indeed!!! :-)

Just started reading the list, and already found _several_ apps that I've
wanted to host = overjoyed!!

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mobitar
Privacytools.io ([https://privacytools.io](https://privacytools.io)) has a
good collection. A lot of privacy software is FOSS.

Standard Notes ([https://standardnotes.org](https://standardnotes.org)) is up
there which is a free open-source encrypted notes app that I work on.

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khedoros1
That seems like a very broad request. Are you looking for clients? Servers?
Self-hosted web solutions? Just names of protocols? Say that I spent a few
minutes listing off every piece of related software that I can think of.
What's the purpose and benefit?

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dmos62
That's a good question. Purpose and benefit is the promotion of free software
in the niche of everyday communication. We list and discuss FOSS options,
maybe furthering their use.

