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Paperwork: An open source Evernote alternative

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Re: Paperwork: An open source Evernote alternative

#131

As other's have mentioned, the WebUI is a major no-no. Evernote's strength lies in its Desktop application and very useful clipping service. The fact that Evernote uses its own cloud storage instead of say an encrypted folder in Google Drive/Dropbox etc is a negative of the service. Sync is required but implemented in the most undesirable way in Evernote currently. Paperwork is promising, but seems to have replicated…

I have to agree. Evernote's Web Clipping feature is a feature that is very important to me. I would also really appreciate the ability to save my data (by default) some place other than Evernote's cloud.

Re: Paperwork: An open source Evernote alternative

#132
I would suggest to consider TiddlyWiki instead: It's open source, it is a super simple low-tech solution (it's just one self-contained file) and it comes with built-in encryption. You can additionally just put it in your Dropbox to have it automatically versioned and synchronized.

Re: Paperwork: An open source Evernote alternative

#133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That makes me think, has anyone tried to build a note taking app based on git? A tricky part for this kind of app is networking and synchronization of notes, and that's all taken care of by git. The "only" thing left would be to implement the mobile and desktop front ends.

Better yet -- CouchDB and PouchDB. You can use PouchDB for the browser side, CouchDB for the server, and Couchbase Mobile for the eventual mobile apps. Pros: offline and online; natural fit for document management; git-like revision and conflict management; simple to set up replication for backup. Cons: it's fallen out of favor; nobody seems to like writing the mapreduce code for searching and views.

PouchDB dev here. The map/reduce API is definitely a bit cumbersome, which is why we're replacing it: http://nolanlawson.github.io/pouchdb-find/ :)

Re: Paperwork: An open source Evernote alternative

#135
post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

a desktop app built with node-webkit would be better than a browser-specific app

How? All you're proposing is replacing one dependency with another.

At least there it's not really any different than shipping a WPF application that's tied to Windows. It's a desktop application, people are used to desktop applications being vendor-specific. I don't like the idea of people getting used to web apps being vendor-specific though. That's not okay. We have a chance to make it right this time. If it runs on your desktop and is vendor-specific, that's a shame but that's expected. If it runs in a browser and is vendor-specific, that's setting a bad precedent that we worked for years to overcome with IE6.

Of course, that's just my personal philosophy. Everyone is different.

Re: Paperwork: An open source Evernote alternative

#136
The plethora of interesting alternatives mentioned in the comments looks like an indicator that instead of one more however well done attempt at solving the problem we actually need a set of well defined protocols and formats that allow for interoperable solutions that suit everyones needs.

Re: Paperwork: An open source Evernote alternative

#137
post #22

As other's have mentioned, the WebUI is a major no-no. Evernote's strength lies in its Desktop application and very useful clipping service. The fact that Evernote uses its own cloud storage instead of say an encrypted folder in Google Drive/Dropbox etc is a negative of the service. Sync is required but implemented in the most undesirable way in Evernote currently. Paperwork is promising, but seems to have replicated…

Is there an open source and self hosting cloud that apps like this can build on. I know Own Cloud exists but is it app-friendly. This requires a mysql db - yuck.

It does not require mysql db. sqlite works fine (at least for smaller systems).

They recommend mysql (especially for bigger systems), but not a requirement.

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