> but it's also effectively subsidized by Matrix's patreon backers, such as myself.
I think that's the wrong way of putting it, since that Patreon money is clearly paying for the open component of Matrix. That's work that needs to be done anyway, whether Slack exists or not, and whether businesses choose to host their service instances via Vector or not. And it's definitely a Good Thing that FLOSS suppliers can now get funded via those crowd-based mechanisms - both for aligning incentives and for enhancing the overall "community"/"bazaar" aspect that has helped make a lot of FLOSS software successful in the past.
I think that's the wrong way of putting it, since that Patreon money is clearly paying for the open component of Matrix. That's work that needs to be done anyway, whether Slack exists or not, and whether businesses choose to host their service instances via Vector or not. And it's definitely a Good Thing that FLOSS suppliers can now get funded via those crowd-based mechanisms - both for aligning incentives and for enhancing the overall "community"/"bazaar" aspect that has helped make a lot of FLOSS software successful in the past.