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Docs – Open source alternative to Notion or Outline

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Re: Docs – Open source alternative to Notion or Outline

#121

Post by bluedino »

mikae1 wrote: post #70
jdvh wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the short term a free open source govt alternative may be a net positive for society. I don't think it is in the long run. Government projects like these are not likely to really push the state-of-the-art forward. This project even advertises itself as a FOSS Notion alternative. Do government-sponsored clones encourage or stymie innovation? I think the latter. Every week we read in the news that the EU struggles w…

> Europe should be making industry-leading apps. Europe should produce software startups that make products that get used worldwide. I've kind of lost hope when it comes to commercial services and proprietary apps. They're sadly all sooner or later enshittified. We need something different, not by promises but by design (FOSS). > EU subsidized clones of popular American products feels like admitting defeat. I think i…

I can't think of too many apps that I use that are truly FOSS.

Databases, compilers/interpreters, web servers, operating systems...but apps? (Other than gnu/bad command line tools of course)

Re: Docs – Open source alternative to Notion or Outline

#122

Post by jdvh »

drio0 wrote: post #116
wim wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're working on an "IDE for notes/tasks" [1] in the space of Notion and so on where you can easily self-host the sync backend with a single binary. The idea is that you can choose between cloud or self-host (and "eject" at any time to switch between the two if you ever change your mind). We hope that might be a good balance between some companies or individuals wanting to self-host but still making it accessible whe…

do you plan to have a mobile app? would you implement database function like in Notion? Is it a full feature todo app or just noting down tasks? would be a killer app if it has 3 Yes

1. Planned, but our first focus is the web app (plus desktop Electron)

2. Yes. We have a bunch of default views like table, kanban, photo gallery, and calendar. You can also create your own views with a JS plugin, like this silly example of spinning globe view: https://x.com/wcools/status/1898828593255346287

3. Our aim is a full feature todo app. But we won't have every feature on day 1.

Re: Docs – Open source alternative to Notion or Outline

#124

Post by addicted »

johndhi wrote: post #19
nchagnet wrote: post #6

This is a really great project from both the French and German governments. I think state-funded open source solutions to digital platforms is a fantastic opportunity to get away from the big tech walled gardens. Of course, there is always the risk that this becomes unmaintained in the future, but the community at least can take over. But until then, it's a nice platform and a nice contribution to the community.

I haven't thought about this a ton - but am I wrong that it sounds crazy and inefficient for the government to essentially compete with private industry? It feels like a colliding of worlds and a cannibalization that doesn't make sense to me. Like - if the government launched a messaging app competitive with WhatsApp and it drew users away from WhatsApp and it had better encryption ... Would that actually be better f…

> am I wrong that it sounds crazy and inefficient for the government to essentially compete with private industry?

The Internet is a strong and definitive counterpoint to this claim, IMO.

If the government didn’t create the open internet, we would all be living in AOL style walled gardens right now.

Re: Docs – Open source alternative to Notion or Outline

#125

Post by thrance »

eastbound wrote: post #45
maelito wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what I hope too. Trump's failure could be our far-right failure to win the 2027 elections.

[flagged]

What the fuck are you even talking about?

Putin broke his peace treaties 27 times and just refused Ukraine's last one. Russia was the one starting the whole fucking war in the first place.

How is CAF funding terrorists and drugs?? Stop spreading nonsense, and please never vote again, seeing how you are completely brainwashed.

Re: Docs – Open source alternative to Notion or Outline

#126

Post by dopidopHN »

mgkimsal wrote: post #4

The closest we get is something like USDS, which then gets hijacked in to DOGE. Open source software built and supported by a national government is inspiring. Are there more examples of this I'm not aware of? I hope so.

It’s been happening pretty consistently in France.

The cops are rolling their own distro :)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GendBuntu

I think it’s wise. Not idea if it’s good

Re: Docs – Open source alternative to Notion or Outline

#127

Post by nchagnet »

ryanSrich wrote: post #51
johndhi wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't thought about this a ton - but am I wrong that it sounds crazy and inefficient for the government to essentially compete with private industry? It feels like a colliding of worlds and a cannibalization that doesn't make sense to me. Like - if the government launched a messaging app competitive with WhatsApp and it drew users away from WhatsApp and it had better encryption ... Would that actually be better f…

It's insane yes. What an incredible waste of tax dollars.

Thankfully it's tax euros!

Re: Docs – Open source alternative to Notion or Outline

#128

Post by KronisLV »

afavour wrote: post #84
KronisLV wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, even if this software wouldn't be 1:1 capable of replacing the established players, it still feels like a good idea. With how much people (rightfully) complain about how open source is underfunded and with how often we're forced into borderline exploitative dealings with the established players in the market (the likes of MS Office, Adobe products, Atlassian products, even some Oracle stuff), funding the…

Germany has an interesting history with Open/LibreOffice. Multiple attempts that ended up going back to Windows, but with fresh attempts that are ongoing: https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/04/germanys_northernmost...

There have been some similar attempts over the years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LibreOffice#Mass_deployments

Some larger than others, some attempts at having more negotiating power, others as a cost cutting measure, others yet as just exploration of what's doable.

I'd say that LibreOffice is fine for my needs - not great in all respects, but functional. I don't even have MS Office or use Google Docs on any of my devices right now.

Re: Docs – Open source alternative to Notion or Outline

#129

Post by coffeefirst »

DeathArrow wrote: post #55
rtpg wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a universe where the French government drops a perfect replacement for Notion and causes Notion to go out of business, this is still a net positive for society in the same way that things like Linux existing is a net positive for society. One should not focus on the economic sphere as the be all and end all. We can just have improvements be distributed to everyone sometimes! We can just do good things through coor…

[flagged]

On the other hand, government run service has worked on pretty well for the mail and it did not lead to communism.

Re: Docs – Open source alternative to Notion or Outline

#130

Post by jeelthompson »

wim wrote: post #52
mrweasel wrote: post #43

Looking at how much infrastructure needs to be spun up, I don't really see this as a good solution for personal note taking. If you use the Docker environment, you spin up 10 or more containers... including KeyClock. I get that this is intended to by hosted by a company or an organisation, but plenty of people are using Notion just as individuals. Most people would be better of with Obsidian, Bear, Notion or even App…

We're working on an "IDE for notes/tasks" [1] in the space of Notion and so on where you can easily self-host the sync backend with a single binary. The idea is that you can choose between cloud or self-host (and "eject" at any time to switch between the two if you ever change your mind). We hope that might be a good balance between some companies or individuals wanting to self-host but still making it accessible whe…

This looks really cool, signed up for early access. Any plans to have an import from notion feature? I’ve used notion for personal note taking and manually moving over would be a big time sync at this point. But I’d love to have a self hosted solution.
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