When comparing Matrix vs Calendar, the Slant community recommends Matrix for most people. In the question“What are the best custom Android Wear watch faces?” Matrix is ranked 12th while Calendar is ranked 20th. The most important reason people chose Matrix is:
Matrix is an open standard, defining simple HTTP APIs so that devs can easily write their own clients, bots, bridges or servers. You're not locked into a specific set of implementations.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Built on an open standard
Matrix is an open standard, defining simple HTTP APIs so that devs can easily write their own clients, bots, bridges or servers. You're not locked into a specific set of implementations.
Pro Bridges other networks into a single decentralised network
Matrix has bridges to IRC (freenode, moznet, oftc, snoonet etc), Slack, Gitter, Rocket.Chat, XMPP, SMS, SIP and others. The point is to 'matrix' all the different networks out there into one single decentralised network.
Pro Has an easy to use client called Riot
Riot.im is the easiest way to use Matrix, with great clients for Web, iOS and Android (and Fdroid).
Pro Does not require a centralized server to establish a connection between two users
Matrix is decentralized, there's no one central point that the information goes through and so no once central point of failure or control.
Pro Matrix prioritizes direct messaging with people the same as Slack-style groups
Matrix aims to "provide an analogous ecosystem to email - one where you can communicate with pretty much anyone, without caring what app or server they are using" using a neutral identity system.
Pro Supports different kinds of communication
Matrix is designed to support Instant Messaging, VoIP/WebRTC signalling (voice and video) and Internet of Things communication.
Pro Has an app store for 3rd party integrations & bots
Riot.im includes an app store with integrations for Github, JIRA, Jenkins, Giphy etc - and anyone can add more via Matrix.
Pro Offers choice of clients
Which can be found here.
Pro Maintains full conversation history
Pro Has an active community behind it
Pro Can be integrated with existing communication services
Matrix is designed to support Instant Messaging, VoIP/WebRTC signalling and Internet of Things communication and allows cross-communication between those services. Meaning one person could be using IRC and another Slack for IMs, or one person could be using Skype and another Google Hangouts for videoconferencing.
Pro End-to-end encryption
Matrix features end-to-end encrypted chats which are syncronized accross all your devices.
E2E is implemented in the matrix-js-sdk library and Riot.im client.
Pro GNOME native integration
Pro Currently in active development
GNOME Calendar is improved with every release cycle of GNOME.
Pro Simplicity
Calendar for GNOME aims to find the perfect balance between features and usability.
Pro Synchronisation
It has online accounts integration.
Cons
Con Keys cannot be checked automatically
You cannot automatically check keys of your recipients. Only manually.
Con Cannot print
Con Extremely buggy
Con Poor interoperability with online calendars
Does not connect to Fastmail.
Con Far too simple
Con FAR too tied into the GNOME infrastructure
The UI and configuration presume you are running GNOME, and has the ugliness of a GNOME application. Configuration, as is usual for any GNOME application, is pretty much nonesistent.
Con Can't read 'all-day' events with dark theme
Text is white on light blue with dark themes. The workaround: assign all-day events to just one hour.
Con Can't import ics files
Con Continues to pop-up reminders that are turned off and they cannot ever be removed
The GNOME Calendar displays pop-ups from an old Google Calendar that was used. That Google Calendar has long since been removed from GNOME, and even with the notifications turned off on the GNOME Calendar, the pop-ups still happen.
Con Incorrect appointment times when importing .ics calendars
Con No support yet for WebCal
No support yet for WebCal, such as those offered by Facebook events.
A workaround exists. Since this application uses the same background services as Evolution, installing it and adding the WebCal calendars there, also adds them to GNOME Calendar.
Con Only works on GNOME
