With Mattermost v10, we discovered a massive limitation introduced on the Mattermost call feature that was previously fully included in the FLOSS version of Mattermost. The call function is now only available in DMs in the FLOSS version, which is annoying for teams who previously used this function without any problems in standard team channels.
I’m really disappointed with this change. I really don’t like the direction Mattermost Inc. is taking. I understand that new features developed specifically for teams that pays for specific features are not introduced in the FLOSS version, but moving things that were in the FLOSS version to the non-free version is a very bad signal.
We asked for clarifications from Mattermost Inc. and from the CEO @it33_mattermost on the dedicated issue on GitHub but we didn’t receive any news. I hope that we will receive news on this topic.
Can we have the official position of Mattermost Inc. on this change. I’m interested in the motivation of this change. Is this the same as in mattermost/mattermost#26105 (limitation of the number of users)? Would it be possible to add an official way to circumvent this limitation?
Also, regarding my previous comment, and for transparency, it would be nice to know if Mattermost Inc. plans to move others features of the OSS edition into the licensed one and if Mattermost Inc. plans to support the OSS version as a full version of Mattermost and not just as an evaluation version.
Hi Romain! Thank you for sharing your feedback & concerns. The Mattermost team is aware of the ongoing discussions around this, and I encourage you to follow the conversation on Github for any updates.
I would also recommend keeping your eyes on the official Mattermost Blog for more information/announcements.
If you have specific technical concerns or workaround requests, please feel free to add them to the GitHub issue to help the team better understand community needs.
Mattermost v10 has been released in September 2024, and if I’m not mistaking the limitation was there from the beginning and Mattermost didn’t make any clear announcement about that apart from saying that this doesn’t change anything for most of the users (which seems to be false regarding the upvotes on the GitHub issue and the discussions on Reddit).
Also my question is not just about the call feature but also about the future of the FLOSS version of Mattermost.
There are no reaction from the Mattermost staff at all on the issue even if it has been open for more than 4 months now.
Sorry, but the “community needs” are really, really clear after all the criticism and discussions in the last months.
The problem here are the non-saying marketing responses to all the criticism, not that you don’t know what the community really concerns.
But to help you a bit:
to enable group calls again there shouldn’t be the need to manually build the whole binary. Just add an option in config.json, as you do for all the other settings
to reset/disable the hard user limit there shouldn’t be the need to manually build the whole binary. Just add an option in config.json, as you do for all the other settings
let the playbooks plugin free to use for anyone with the basic functions as in the last years
generally: don’t paywall stuff that has been free for all to use since now and then! If you want to add more value to the enterprise edition, just develop new fancy features for enterprise-only
make a clear statement what to expect for community edition users. Will you paywall more stuff? Will the restrictions become harder? Or will you even degrade the community edition to a “staging build for enterprise edition” that isn’t really usable in a production environment for anybody anymore?
Just communicate transparently what your plans for the next years and decades are and don’t argue with your focus on critical infrastructure and such stuff. This focus is new since 2024 and really no argument, why you have to paywall stuff for “quality reasons” or any other (sorry) bullshit arguments.
I’d like to add, an answer is better than no answer. Even if it’s yes, we will remove a few more features from the free edition in the next couple releases, I rather hear that now than be ignored completely.
If an answer isn’t ready, a message from leadership saying, “hey, we’re trying to figure out what/how we want to respond and will get back to you in two weeks” would be nice.
I agree with @felicianotech. I would really prefer a response from Mattermost Inc. saying that they are abandoning the FLOSS version of Mattermost rather than a silent continuation of the abandonment of the FLOSS version.
If not, please be clear about the future of the FLOSS version: will there be any new limitations, and for what reasons?
This would give some kind of clarity to Mattermost instance administrators.