Ask HN: After three years of open source software, I can't stand it

Three years ago, I discovered a relatively new technology called Tauri. It felt cool—lightweight, cross-platform, perfect for building handy little tools. Back then, I didn't think too much about it; I just started coding. No business plan, no growth targets, just one thought: make it effortless for users (at that time, that user was myself).

Since I had a need for note-taking, I decided to start with my own requirements and develop a Markdown editor: MarkFlowy.

GitHub repository: https://github.com/drl990114/MarkFlowy

You can also try it online on the official website: https://markflowy.cc

For the past three years, I've devoted almost all of my spare time to this project. Seeing people actually use it and genuinely find it helpful—that sense of fulfillment is something a salary can't provide.

But now, I'm feeling a bit lost.

In the AI era, the barrier to developing software has dropped significantly. For tool software, people might be more inclined to build their own solutions. There are more and more similar tools, and as I repeatedly review my own project, I increasingly struggle to see its unique qualities.

Three years ago, I thought the highlight worth mentioning was the lightweight nature and performance brought by the Tauri framework. Two years ago, I integrated AI and iterated on it as a standalone module. Currently, what I'm most satisfied with is the interface and editing experience.

But as I mentioned, with more and more similar software, the highlights I once thought were good no longer provide differentiation. In product terms, this is called a "moat"—without a moat, it's hard to stand out.

So today, I genuinely want to ask everyone a few questions:

• If you're still using this software, what exactly makes you reluctant to uninstall it?

• What needs do you truly have that other similar software hasn't addressed well?

• Do you think I should keep pushing forward?

No need for pleasantries—I accept both praise and criticism. If it's encouragement, I'll screenshot it and save it until retirement. Your suggestions might determine the capabilities of the upcoming 1.0 version, so I hope you can share more opinions and ideas.

Thank you to everyone who has downloaded, submitted issues, or starred the project over these three years. You are the entire reason I've made it this far.