Remote profile

Six of the open source vendors behind #openDesk, including Element, have formed Open Productivity: a joint venture bringing the sovereign digital workplace to businesses and critical infrastructure operators.

We provide openDesk's secure, real-time comms, built on #Matrix. Each organisation can run its own server and keep control of its data, while still talking securely to suppliers, regulators and partners.

https://element.io/blog/vendors-behind-opendesk-join-forces-as-open-productivity/

#OpenSource #DigitalSovereignty

Germany's sovereign office suite, openDesk from ZenDiS, now deploys Element Server Suite (ESS) under its own branding.

What that means for openDesk operators:

🔒 Hardened images
🧭 Upstream ESS, so faster features and fixes
🔑 Next-generation auth, with openDesk's Nubus-based IdP

We're with ZenDiS on the openDesk stand at Smart Country Convention in Berlin this week (13-15 October). Come and say hello!

https://element.io/blog/opendesk-now-runs-element-server-suite-direct-from-upstream/

Our integration team has been hard at work making composite sovereign suites feel like one workplace.

So far they've delivered:

📂 Nextcloud file integration
🔒 Authenticated previews of private documents
👀 PDF and Markdown previews next to the chat timeline

Next up: https://element.io/blog/smoother-collaboration-with-integrations/

Putting services online is not difficult. The real challenge is to keep them healthy, up to date, and resilient, and this is more than just a tech problem. We thought about the best way we can offer support, and that goes through streamlined deployments.

The good news is that tech foundations already existed. We only had to package our experience in a helm chart.

Putting it online is the easy bit, and we’re here to support the rest.

https://element.io/blog/putting-it-online-is-the-easy-bit/

A wonderfully detailed write-up of French local authorities' push to replace WhatsApp with Matrix from Bill Goodwin at ComputerWeekly.com, who spoke directly with @adullact 's @matthieufaure about the current status of the project and what the future holds.

https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366651220/French-local-authorities-to-replace-WhatsApp-with-sovereign-encrypted-messaging

@arawa, @adullact, and Element partner to provide interoperable, sovereign and secure communications for local govt in France, with talks underway to connect to Tchap.

Thanks to Matrix, they can work independently and know they can easily federate when they are ready.

https://element.io/blog/element-partners-with-arawa-to-bring-sovereign-open-standard-federated-communications-to-french-local-authorities/

We're thrilled to be the anchor sponsor this year again at The Matrix Conference and to sponsor the public sector track.

There is an amazing line-up once more, including:

🇪🇺 European Commission
🌐 UNICC, the United Nations International Computing Centre
🇫🇷 DINUM
🇸🇪 Sweden's Social Insurance Agency
🇸🇪 Sweden's government agencies collaboration programme
🇩🇪 FITKO, Germany’s central Federal IT Cooperation agency
🇱🇺 Luxchat, Luxembourg's national Matrix deployment

https://element.io/blog/making-sovereignty-standard-for-european-governments/

EU Cyber Resilience Act: Article 14 takes effect on 11 Sept. Manufacturers of products with digital elements must report actively exploited vulnerabilities and severe incidents to CSIRTs and ENISA within set timeframes.

Here’s what it means for Element and our users.

https://element.io/blog/cyber-resilience-act-what-changes-this-week-and-how-element-is-preparing/

@timofej @lavacat the customer is stuck on Element Classic because it’s a big deployment which needs a lot of time to manage the migration to Element X, hence going on their own timeline for it and needing to suppress that message. Paranoia about unexpected hashes is well deserved, but in this instance it’s benign.

@timofej @lavacat it looks like a questionable measure to try to preserve the privacy of the deployment who wanted to delay warning about the migration. agreed it could have been handled better.

@lavacat This was added in https://github.com/element-hq/element-android/pull/9141/changes in order to suppress the “As of October 2026 unverified devices will not be able to send and receive messages.” warning for users stuck on classic Element for one specific customer deployment who want to roll out the https://element.io/blog/verifying-your-devices-is-becoming-mandatory-2/ transition on their own timeline. It is not a backdoor; it is just suppressing the “please verify yourself” warning. Agreed this should be clearer though.

Sections just landed in Element 🎉

Under the hood they’re Matrix tags as defined in the spec, but with a shiny drag-and-drop UI. It’s what Favourites and Low Priority already used.

Now you can group rooms: create a section, add rooms into it, collapse what you don't need, and get unread indicators per section.

https://element.io/blog/organise-your-chats-your-way-with-sections/

We're interoperable, so you can be sovereign.

Digitally sovereign communications require open standards and interoperability: the freedom to pick and mix backend components, and the ability for separate deployments to federate and communicate on your terms.

That's why we build on Matrix - the decentralised open standard no single vendor can own, control or shut down.

https://element.io/blog/were-interoperable-so-you-can-be-sovereign/

🇩🇪 The federal government and all 16 Länder have confirmed that ZaPuK - led by @FITKOfoederal and built on @matrix - will be a cornerstone of Germany's Deutschland-Stack.

By adopting Matrix, Germany’s federal government and 16 states will operate from an open standard that supports a competitive ecosystem of providers to drive innovation and efficiency based on interoperable open source software.

https://element.io/blog/matrix-based-zapuk-confirmed-as-a-core-component-within-germanys-deutschland-stack/