Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Show HN: Milanote – A notes app for creative work

milanote.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 77 posts

Re: Show HN: Milanote – A notes app for creative work

#61

Post by tonyedgecombe »

criddell wrote: post #30
pavlov wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's something I would use daily, that seems pretty cheap: less than 40 cents / day. A company like Microsoft can afford to price its consumer software to maximize marketshare. Bootstrapped startups shouldn't bother to compete with the same approach.

Of course they should compete. They should provide better value. That doesn't necessarily mean it has to be less expensive though. Freemium applications usually have nothing between the free tier and the professional tier. I'd pay for a lot more services if there was a personal or supporter tier. For something like this, I'd pay $25 / year. That means every time I launch it, I'd be paying between ten and twenty-five…

Customers at those sort of price points are often more trouble than they are worth.

Re: Show HN: Milanote – A notes app for creative work

#62

Post by Kluny »

hiphopyo wrote: post #7

My recent findings is that it's better to not take any notes at all. Instead of adding some item to your todo list, do it immediately and don't send it off like some nasty surprise to your future self. The smaller my notes.txt the less complications I have to worry about and I can go on living a happy and fulfilled life.

I don't use my notes as a todo list. I use them to document work I've already done. If I make some major changes to a piece of software, I'll list every file and method I've worked on in a tree format with bullets about what I did in each one. The bullets can be pasted directly into an SVN commit message and they're searchable with notepad++'s search box. It's a lifesaver and massively reduces complications in my life. I don't have to go back and relearn the code to answer questions about it or make small changes. I also save code snippets. Likewise a lifesaver. It's 20,000 lines and counting and I won't delete any of them.

Re: Show HN: Milanote – A notes app for creative work

#63

Post by paulcole »

therealmarv wrote: post #9

Hm, no, simply cannot afford 144$/y for another cloud note system. Please, we need this: Note taking done right: Android, iOS, Desktop, Markdown & HTML & Pictures, easy flat file format (preferred markdown), Web clipper, archive notes, offline and do this all without wasting whitespace (no document editor like Evernote) and good sync and instant search results while you type. <- would spend a bigger double digit numb…

> would spend a bigger double digit number $ on this, but no subscription

Curious how you think they'd be able to keep the servers running indefinitely at a one-time purchase price?

Re: Show HN: Milanote – A notes app for creative work

#64

Post by mntmn »

lowglow wrote: post #50
mntmn wrote: post #6

We made 5 or 6 major versions of a similar tool from 2011-now ( https://spacedeck.com ), in the end it failed to monetize in a significant way. We will probably open-source it soon to provide a continuity path for the (relatively small) core userbase. Edit: You made some really good UX detail choices: - Grid that snaps on releasing items - Column object (smart!) - Omitting zoom is also probably a good idea (complicat…

Why do you think it has failed to monetize?

These kind of products are nice-to-have and easily substituted by free alternatives, except for very narrow specific niches that need some of the more advanced functionality (in our case, music teachers). For the general user, these tools are also too tedious/involved to be sticky in the long run. Computer tools with nonlinear/nontrivial interaction only work in the professional space were you _have_ to deal with the complex UI to get your job done because there is no simpler substitute. But this is not the case for creative moodboarding etc: you can use paper, whiteboards, random drawing software. My point is, tools like these tend to be too shallow for professionals who would maybe pay (but they would need more pro, expensive/impossible to build features), and too complicated for the casual user who wouldn't pay anyway. "Prosumer" tools like these do not solve a big enough problem/pain to be viable in a meaningful financial way IMHO.

Re: Show HN: Milanote – A notes app for creative work

#65

Post by dotancohen »

gravypod wrote: post #44
s_kilk wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just sync a directory of markdown files (and subdirectories) with Dropbox, and use whatever editor is appropriate on whatever desktop/mobile OS. Easy, simple, no botnet.

> with Dropbox If you replace that with owncloud then maybe no botnet.

I actually do the same thing with a private Bit Bucket git repository. I have a shell script sync to my Note 3 and use MarkdownX on that device to edit and read.

Re: Show HN: Milanote – A notes app for creative work

#66

Post by dotancohen »

crispinb wrote: post #56

Looks nice enough, but I won't ever again lock my notes data into a file format that is either private or too complex to in practice do much with outside of the app. I have lost too many 1000s of notes that way in the past. Exports are rarely useful -- losing metadata & structure, or not being cleanly importable into the next note system. For now I use Quiver ( http://happenapps.com/#quiver ) which uses a documented…

I would love to see your android app. I've heard good things about Quiver, but I'm a Linux user. Perhaps the Android app could push me to develop a data-compatible Linux clone.

Re: Show HN: Milanote – A notes app for creative work

#67

Post by aidos »

lobster_johnson wrote: post #57
wingerlang wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it a web app? It isn't obvious from their website and I can't find information. I also don't feel like signing up.

Yes: "Milanote runs in any modern web browser. Native apps for iOS and Android coming soon." It's an odd decision in this age of "mobile first" and Electron-wrapped apps like Slack. Especially since it's not in beta and the only plan is a paid one.

Doesn't seem that strange to me. Given that the target audience seems to be creatives at desktops, webapp first seems to be a good approach.

Re: Show HN: Milanote – A notes app for creative work

#68

Post by crispinb »

dotancohen wrote: post #66
crispinb wrote: post #56

Looks nice enough, but I won't ever again lock my notes data into a file format that is either private or too complex to in practice do much with outside of the app. I have lost too many 1000s of notes that way in the past. Exports are rarely useful -- losing metadata & structure, or not being cleanly importable into the next note system. For now I use Quiver ( http://happenapps.com/#quiver ) which uses a documented…

I would love to see your android app. I've heard good things about Quiver, but I'm a Linux user. Perhaps the Android app could push me to develop a data-compatible Linux clone.

Sorry, you never will! By 'crude' I really meant it; and not just the UI, but the code. I thrashed it out as a kind of spike and it won't ever be seen by anyone but me (and even I only look reluctantly).

Writing a proper Android version is currently tying for first place with a micro.blog (http://micro.blog) client for my next project.

Should you really be interested in a Linux version, Quiver's author has written up the json format: https://github.com/HappenApps/Quiver/wiki/Quiver-Data-Format. It seems simple and sane.

I also like the general notion of "Standard Notes" (https://standardnotes.org/), but can't see text-only notes becoming 'standard' in the 21st century.

Re: Show HN: Milanote – A notes app for creative work

#69

Post by mobitar »

jclos wrote: post #16
therealmarv wrote: post #9

Hm, no, simply cannot afford 144$/y for another cloud note system. Please, we need this: Note taking done right: Android, iOS, Desktop, Markdown & HTML & Pictures, easy flat file format (preferred markdown), Web clipper, archive notes, offline and do this all without wasting whitespace (no document editor like Evernote) and good sync and instant search results while you type. <- would spend a bigger double digit numb…

You might be interested by [Laverna]( https://laverna.cc/ ). It's not as full-featured as Google keep but it does work offline and let you encrypt and sync your notes via dropbox, which I find to be more important than pure looks. The other alternative would be [Turtl]( https://turtlapp.com/ ) but you need to host the server somewhere (although I imagine just hosting it localy would work as well).

You might like Standard Notes[1]. It's an open source project I and a few others are working on. Focuses on longevity, portability, and privacy. Has full offline support and end-to-end encryption, as well as support for 3rd party extensions like Dropbox sync.

[1] https://standardnotes.org

Re: Show HN: Milanote – A notes app for creative work

#70

Post by therealmarv »

paulcole wrote: post #63
therealmarv wrote: post #9

Hm, no, simply cannot afford 144$/y for another cloud note system. Please, we need this: Note taking done right: Android, iOS, Desktop, Markdown & HTML & Pictures, easy flat file format (preferred markdown), Web clipper, archive notes, offline and do this all without wasting whitespace (no document editor like Evernote) and good sync and instant search results while you type. <- would spend a bigger double digit numb…

> would spend a bigger double digit number $ on this, but no subscription Curious how you think they'd be able to keep the servers running indefinitely at a one-time purchase price?

For realtime sync I can understand subscription models but I would be fine with Dropbox/Google Drive etc.
Post reply on HN