> This is just another desperate attempt to get some cash flow, I don't think they've even managed to ship the gen1 phone to all the backers yet.
This is not a desperate attempt, it is another service offering to align with their privacy focused hardware and software products.
They have been very open and honest about any delays in the shipping of the phones. Evergreen batches are nearly a month away. So they haven’t “managed” that yet because the process has not completed yet.
I signed on for their LibremOne family plan, and gave them 18 months to pull it together. They were unable to keep a Matrix homeserver operating correctly. I gave up.
I discovered privacytools.io operating services, and recently debian.social. And bought a PinePhone.
I too have issues with the quality of their matrix server. For example server errors out if you try to change a room's notification settings (and the request fails).
I wrote to Purism about that more than a month ago. They are running an old version of Synapse that needs to be restarted periodically so as not to exhibit this bug. Evidently they still have not updated, and they have not even arranged to restart it periodically.
They said Element is asking too much money for consulting on how to keep your Synapse server up, and have no one on staff equipped to do it. So, whatever the status of Librem 5 the phone, LibremOne the service is not a priority.
Monopoly? Purism barely exists as a company.
This is just another desperate attempt to get some cash flow, I don't think they've even managed to ship the gen1 phone to all the backers yet.