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0 pointsandreilys3y ago0 comments

I'm sorry but markdown and backlinks are boring

That is the intention. I don't want excitement with my note-taking, I want plain, boring, open-standards that will survive the test of time.

Chances are high that your startup will: 1) Fail 2) Get acquired and gets shut down 3) Aggressively monetize leading to poor UI/UX (i.e. Evernote)

The whole advantage of Obsidian is that it relies on an open format, and makes it easy to transition to a new platform

I want a system that I know 20 years from now I can still use (or can transition to a better one).

Maybe I'm in the minority but I've tried at least 10 different note taking apps over the last decade, and none of them have staying power because they all fall into the three issues I outlined above.

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least3y ago

I personally want something that allows me to work with things spatially, to draw things, to dump a bunch of images into it, and move things around in at least a two dimensional space. I want to be able to embed maps, images, audio files, music, draw connections between them, move them around. This cannot be accomplished in plain text.

I think notes should use a database so it can effectively obfuscate data like the spatial relationships between objects in a note. An open specification and utilizing an open source database would be better. Plain text objects could still be used and easily exported, but you gain so much over simply plain text. Portability is important but it's not as important as having tools that meaningfully improve how you perform the task you're trying to accomplish.

andreilysOP3y ago

Portability is important but it's not as important as having tools that meaningfully improve how you perform the task you're trying to accomplish.

I'm sorry but until you've experienced a startup shutting down the product that you built your whole knowledge repo around, you won't really understand the need for portability.

I could care less about the shiny features, because I know that in 10 years this product will be defunct, while markdown will still exist.

least3y ago

> I'm sorry but until you've experienced a startup shutting down the product that you built your whole knowledge repo around, you won't really understand the need for portability.

It is not hard to understand why portability is important and I do not need to lose anything to empathize with people that have. I think it is important but it doesn't matter how important it is if the tool you're using to secure portability is insufficient for the task you're trying to accomplish. That is backwards thinking.

> I could care less about the shiny features, because I know that in 10 years this product will be defunct, while markdown will still exist.

I'm not speaking in favor for this person's startup, I'm speaking in favor for better tools for note taking, thinking, brainstorming, and managing knowledge. Plain text is not good enough, in my opinion. This is coming from someone who uses plain text for all those things because there isn't an existing adequate alternative. If plain text is genuinely suitable for your needs, that's great. I just really doubt that anyone that uses plain text can genuinely say that they aren't held back by the limitations of the format at least in some way.

slightwinder3y ago

> I want to be able to embed maps, images, audio files, music, draw connections between them, move them around. This cannot be accomplished in plain text.

It can be accomplished in plain text, by hiding it behind a fancy interface. Which is exactly what Obsidian enables people to do with plugins. And with the new live-editor this allows a pretty well-made mix between plain text and rich content.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

least3y ago

andreilysOP3y ago

Portability is important but it's not as important as having tools that meaningfully improve how you perform the task you're trying to accomplish.

I'm sorry but until you've experienced a startup shutting down the product that you built your whole knowledge repo around, you won't really understand the need for portability.

I could care less about the shiny features, because I know that in 10 years this product will be defunct, while markdown will still exist.

least3y ago

> I'm sorry but until you've experienced a startup shutting down the product that you built your whole knowledge repo around, you won't really understand the need for portability.

> I could care less about the shiny features, because I know that in 10 years this product will be defunct, while markdown will still exist.

slightwinder3y ago

> I want to be able to embed maps, images, audio files, music, draw connections between them, move them around. This cannot be accomplished in plain text.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse