Live data from Hacker News

Notion API – public beta

developers.notion.so

241–250 of 262 posts

Re: Notion API – public beta

#241
post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While we’re making a wish list, the biggest thing for me would be permissions on database tables. It’s very hard to centralise info using tables when you need multiple versions for multiple people (e.g. if I’m tracking job applicants in Notion, I want to be able to store some personal information but not necessarily show that to everyone).

Would you like to set permissions per column? Read-write-modify?

Exactly that, yes!

Re: Notion API – public beta

#242
post #235
post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you’re the CEO, would you rather have a frustrating but profitable product or a non-frustrating but non-profitable product? I think people forget this part of the math.

I don't see how or why these things have to be related in any way whatsoever? Atlassian offers self hosted solutions and presumably do so because it's profitable. I don't see why offering a self hosted solution has to somehow mean less profit, or to the extent of non-profitability for that matter. You could make it *more* expensive to use the self hosted version. It's straightforward to justify if you consider the ad…

You are reasoning about this well. Offering a self hosted solution is a solvable problem that can be profitable. The challenge might be that there are multiple different strategies the folks at Notion could follow, but choose not to. Each is solvable and each can bring more profit. And yet they need to decide what to do and what not to do. You should not chase every rabbit and solve every solvable problem.

Re: Notion API – public beta

#243
post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Totally understand that you want more options for how to host your data. Unfortunately, we don't have any plans on that front at the moment. This is unfortunate. I tried Notion a few months back, and almost loved it enough to pay for a subscription. Once I saw that, I refunded the subscription and went back to markdown and git. I love your software, but the lock-in is frustrating.

If you’re the CEO, would you rather have a frustrating but profitable product or a non-frustrating but non-profitable product? I think people forget this part of the math.

Hey, I just don't like the way the numbers shake out. I'm just letting people know that I voted with my dollar.

Re: Notion API – public beta

#244
post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity what do you use for documents and email? Not using Office365/Google Docs/Outlook/Gmail at all?

In my experience, you will find this kind of org uses Office365/Outlook, and not Gsuite/Gmail, as they have in place a commercial agreement with Microsoft which covers regulatory requirements put upon them (and some they put upon themselves). Of course they could _try_ to get an agreeable contract in place with Google, but Microsoft is Enterprise-friendly and can make this happen much more readily.

We use Microsoft over Google simply because they are not an advertising company.

Re: Notion API – public beta

#245

Big fan of notion. Not a fan of the data lock-in or haphazard security. For tools like this, SaaS will almost always beat open source just by virtue of elbow grease and a product direction. So I’m willing to forego the open source alternatives. But I really wish Notion gave me more options for how to host my data. AFAICT they offer no “dedicated storage” or “on premise” plan, even if you want to pay for it. In fact I…

I'm actually working on launching a self-serve on-prem version of Retool over the next few weeks. Would love your feedback on whether the way we're thinking about it resonates with how you feel about on-prem/self-hosted tools. If you're open to it, let's connect jamie at retool.com

Re: Notion API – public beta

#246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even pretty established players like Asana don't offer on prem. Curious what you'd be willing to pay for this, as it's exclusively an enterprise feature. My guess is an absolute minimum of $50k/year contract value, or 250-350 users at an enterprise per-seat price (just guessing). Aside from going fully on prem, the idea of strictly dedicated storage is interesting -- like "bring your own S3 bucket" simplicity. I don'…

You're right about Asana -- but it's worth noting that RoamResearch ($100/yr) offers private, offline dbs, and Roam's OSS "vassal" app (ie, clone) AthensResearch is self-hosted and free-as-in-beer.

Roam's site[1] only mentions $165/yr. The 5 year plan is $500, but then... if you stop using it after a year, you would have paid $500 for 1 year of usage. If you're thinking of no lock-in, you need to see the monthly price, which is $15 month, way more expensive (for personal use) than anything notion has (free/$4/$8 per month)

[1]: https://roamresearch.com/

Re: Notion API – public beta

#247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Craft Docs is a good Notion alternative I personally like, and they're avoiding the data moat angle: https://museapp.com/podcast/26-no-data-moat/

Craft is really slick, but it's not really an option for those not using Apple products. Well, I guess until the web editor is out of beta. I'm keeping an eye on AnyType https://AnyType.io

Honest question, since this thread seems to be mostly about the data. If AnyType uses IPFS, doesn't that mean data will vanish at some point?

Re: Notion API – public beta

#248
post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity what do you use for documents and email? Not using Office365/Google Docs/Outlook/Gmail at all?

In my experience, you will find this kind of org uses Office365/Outlook, and not Gsuite/Gmail, as they have in place a commercial agreement with Microsoft which covers regulatory requirements put upon them (and some they put upon themselves). Of course they could _try_ to get an agreeable contract in place with Google, but Microsoft is Enterprise-friendly and can make this happen much more readily.

That's still not self-hosted though ...

Re: Notion API – public beta

#249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zero cost but not Free Software. Another untrustworthy thing like Notion.

I'm most saddened by the people who spend their time writing plugins for Notion / Roam (and to a lesser degree, Obsidian), providing extra value for free to a non-free product that will profit off the free labor. (or rather, I'm saddened that companies like Roam are so willing to exploit community engagement for a profit) Time would be better spent contributing to an open source alternative like Athens!

Thank Ben :)

Re: Notion API – public beta

#250
post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Go help the folks working on Focalboard!

Mattermost PM here, thanks for suggesting Focalboard! @rubyist5eva You can learn more about Focalboard - the open-source alternative to Trello, Asana and Notion - at https://focalboard.com/ .

looks like a neat project, might set it up in my homelab and give it a try - but I dont' think it's quite what I'm looking for
Post reply on HN