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

Anytype – local-first, P2P Notion alternative

anytype.io

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 281 posts

Re: Anytype – local-first, P2P Notion alternative

#111

Post by hresvelgr »

I've been using this heavily, it's a good tool. Some of how it works is not intuitive coming from Notion but the docs are good enough that I got up to speed promptly. Anytype feels joyful to use in a similar way to Notion but without weight of Notion's mountain of features. It's got the right amount of focused functionality. There's some QoL issues present which annoy me, but they're nitpicks at best.

Some things I would like to see would be alternate card previews for objects, and perhaps some options on organising/separating disconnected graphs, but I would be perfectly happy without, the functionality present is wonderfully spartan and I think I'd weep if it became a feature behemoth like Notion.

Re: Anytype – local-first, P2P Notion alternative

#112

Post by pronkin »

pgeorgi wrote: post #95
pronkin wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Co-founder of anytype is here. The most of are repos are fully open-source. We have our philosophy regarding open source here https://blog.anytype.io/our-open-philosophy/ Happy to discuss concerns regarding our approach.

The problem is that proprietary licenses (such as Source Available) are viral: whatever they touch becomes proprietary. As such, "most repos are open source" (from what I can see: MIT, some forked ones Apache 2.0) is nice, but the end product still isn't open source according to OSD. There are people who value using "Open Source" for OSD-compliant licenses only (I tend to agree with that notion to keep things clear),…

Yep it's clear, you are right!

Re: Anytype – local-first, P2P Notion alternative

#113

Post by pronkin »

andrewshadura wrote: post #78
pronkin wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Co-founder of anytype is here. The most of are repos are fully open-source. We have our philosophy regarding open source here https://blog.anytype.io/our-open-philosophy/ Happy to discuss concerns regarding our approach.

You deny your users the most basic freedom there is, the freedom to use your software for any purpose without discrimination. This is wrong, and so is your attempt to misuse and redefine the term "open source software".

Our idea is straightforward: if you want to use the software, you can do so for free, whether for personal use or within an organization. However, if you aim to sell it for profit, you need to contribute to its creation in some way; this is why permission is required. At least, that's the case at this early stage.

Re: Anytype – local-first, P2P Notion alternative

#114

Post by pronkin »

pgeorgi wrote: post #100
number6 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the second time today that someone mistakes open source and free software. See: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.... I don't blame you, it's a bit schadenfreude on my part because "open source" companies try to dress as free software but aren't

You replied to "You deny your users the most basic freedom there is, the freedom to use your software for any purpose without discrimination." and caim that open source isn't about that. Let's see https://opensource.org/definition-annotated/ , _the_ definition for open source, specifically the sections titled "No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups" and "No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor": "The licens…

The way we crafted it is not clear. Our idea is straightforward: if you want to use the software, you can do so for free, whether for personal use or within an organization. However, if you aim to sell it for profit, you need to contribute to its creation in some way; this is why permission is required. At least, that's the case at this early stage.

Re: Anytype – local-first, P2P Notion alternative

#115

Post by number6 »

pgeorgi wrote: post #100
number6 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the second time today that someone mistakes open source and free software. See: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.... I don't blame you, it's a bit schadenfreude on my part because "open source" companies try to dress as free software but aren't

You replied to "You deny your users the most basic freedom there is, the freedom to use your software for any purpose without discrimination." and caim that open source isn't about that. Let's see https://opensource.org/definition-annotated/ , _the_ definition for open source, specifically the sections titled "No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups" and "No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor": "The licens…

Yes you are right. It's not even open source...

Re: Anytype – local-first, P2P Notion alternative

#116

Post by pronkin »

jasonlotito wrote: post #82
pronkin wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Co-founder of anytype is here. The most of are repos are fully open-source. We have our philosophy regarding open source here https://blog.anytype.io/our-open-philosophy/ Happy to discuss concerns regarding our approach.

I was going to come here and post about how this is exactly what I've been looking for, but then I read this. So, my kneejerk reaction to this deceptive use of open source is to just say "no" and move on. However, I read through your philosphy, and I have a question. > considering the substantial R&D resources required for the application layer, we believe that businesses and networks utilizing our software for comme…

The most of are repost are open-sourced with MIT licence. It's clear now, that the way we put words together in the license for clients is not clear. Our idea is straightforward: if you want to use the software, you can do so for free, whether for personal use or within an organization. However, if you aim to sell it for profit(like change the logo and put price tag on it), you need to contribute to its creation in some way; this is why permission is required. At least, that's the case at this early stage.

Re: Anytype – local-first, P2P Notion alternative

#117

Post by pronkin »

lucideer wrote: post #108
pronkin wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our philosophy surrounding open-source is uncomplicated and clear. All essential protocols and data formats are subject to the MIT license. However, considering our clients' needs and with the MongoDB situation as a reference, we must maintain some degree of defensibility. Our objective is to foster a collaborative atmosphere, co-creating with the community. The size of the community matters to us; when it reaches a…

These are all noble goals, and I don't think many commenters here are arguing that they're not justified. Just that the specific use of the term "open source" is incorrectly applied (to your own benefit). If a subset of things you do are open source, that's great. Say that.

Yep, you right, we'll correct it.

Re: Anytype – local-first, P2P Notion alternative

#118

Post by pronkin »

chambers wrote: post #74

The proportion of philosophy to features in their marketing seems off. They say "trust our code, not our words" and then spend several paragraphs of words talking up their ideals. It feels like something is being hidden or talked around. Data-independence may be one aspect that's not transparent. Compared to https://obsidian.md/ , I can't just use raw Markdown or CSV file with Anytype. I've paid Obsidian $300+ just b…

Anytype's functionality cannot operate using Markdown or CSV, as these formats are limited for our specific use-cases. Instead, we've defined our data format in a protobuf file, which is open and MIT-licensed. You can always compile a version yourself and use your data without relying on Anytype. We hope to include data adaptors in future developments

Re: Anytype – local-first, P2P Notion alternative

#119

Post by EvanAnderson »

pronkin wrote: post #117
lucideer wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are all noble goals, and I don't think many commenters here are arguing that they're not justified. Just that the specific use of the term "open source" is incorrectly applied (to your own benefit). If a subset of things you do are open source, that's great. Say that.

Yep, you right, we'll correct it.

Thank you! Terminology matters. I really appreciate that you’re willing to make that change.

Re: Anytype – local-first, P2P Notion alternative

#120

Post by sharipova »

number6 wrote: post #103
jrm4 wrote: post #56

Everything about this smells like "we're going to say we're open-source and that you're always fully in control" and then you read the fine print and find out there's some way to rugpull or some other barrier that will screw the user. At this stage, having seen so many of these things, I'm comfortable disbelieving them outright WITHOUT reading further.

My feeling to: feels like a free sample and then they will lock you in

(co-founder of anytype) the whole purpose of anytype is user autonomy from software provider. The data standard is open. The code is open. You can self-host your network of backup nodes (tech skills required as this is self-hosting alpha released this week). The app is local first with p2p sync (you remove the back up node, you still have your data and still have sync in local networks). Most importantly you control the keys - encryption keys, access to your account - this is not touched by anytype - noone can block you out of your account, no central registry of users, all these. There are two principles for our business model: self-sustinability - support a community of contributors to improve the product and build this positive fly wheel and universal accessibility - anyone can use anytype for free if they use their resources. I hope all of this decisions deserve attention and reveal our intention (they are not accidental things)
Post reply on HN