A few weeks ago we started to test Mattermost as a communication channel for Eclipse Foundation projects. So, how is it going?

When you start learning a new programming language you often encounter snippets of code which you have no idea why they work. The more you learn about that programming language to more you understand and these moments become rare.

This is the third time I am testing Diaspora. I never wrote about the other attempts, but between Christmas and New Year a had a bit of time writing this together.

Motivated by the article at Heise about diaspora, I decided it is time to give diaspora another try. I did try the first version after the crowdfunding campaign and one or two years later.

Before and on Christmas, most people think about people in need, and hopefully donate something. Not necessarily money, but presents as well.

But after Christmas, there are lots of unwanted presents and things you don’t need, don’t like or will ever use. In most cases, these items end up in the trash, at some shelf or, at best, being returned to the store.

Thanks to @bruncedric and the Eclipse Webmasters we were able to quickly start a test of Mattermost at https://mattermost-test.eclipse.org.

“Mattermost” is a Slack/HipChat/… like web messaging system (aka webchat). I don’t want to go into too much detail of the system itself, but the main idea is to have a “faster-than-email” communication form for a team of people. Comparable to IRC, but more HTML5-ish. It also features a REST API, which can be used to automate inbound and outbound messages to the different channels.