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Show HN: Obsidian – A knowledge base that works on local Markdown files

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Re: Show HN: Obsidian – A knowledge base that works on local Markdown files

#291

Post by Xavdidtheshadow »

bachmeier wrote: post #210
MiroF wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been looking for something like this for... so long. It's like tiddlywiki but with first class & local markdown! Thank you!!! Add a separate GUI for a workflow-y like list-editing (that saves as a markdown list format) and you've got a serious competitor to Roam as well as beating out more traditional competitors like Notion, Boostnote, etc. e: ah, no inline LaTex.. I knew there was a catch!

> Add a separate GUI for a workflow-y like list-editing (that saves as a markdown list format) and you've got a serious competitor to Roam as well as beating out more traditional competitors like Notion, Boostnote, etc. FYI, they're the ones behind Dynalist.

Can you clarify who "they" is? Are Dynalist and Obsidian made by the same folks?

Re: Show HN: Obsidian – A knowledge base that works on local Markdown files

#292

Post by quickthrower2 »

ericax wrote: post #7

Maker here, excited to be on Hacker News. Obsidian is going into public beta today! (We're also on Product Hunt, come check us out!) We made Obsidian to be your long-term second brain and personal knowledge base. As you put in more notes and make more connections, the knowledge base gets more valuable, so we think it's important that you can 100% own your data and not rely on any cloud services. We believe you second…

Hi Eric(?)

I downloaded Obsidian and it looks really nice. I use markdown already to make notes on my side project, but in my brain my thoughts are more diffuse as it's an MVP stage thing with so many ways to extend, so many things to think about. I think this would, at firs glance, help me alot.

One small thing I'd recommend would be when you first open it, could it create a default folder like (on Windows for example) Documents\Obsidian. And pre fill that as the folder (and I can change if I like). Then when I first use it there is less friction.

The other thing is to UX test that first screen where you are made to choose between new document and reading docs. I felt that made me think too much, and it might be the wording. I'd sort of prefer something like:

New User? Do you want to read help on getting started? Yes/No.

However I might not be typical, so watch over some shoulders as people first use the app and ask them what they are thinking.

Good luck!

Re: Show HN: Obsidian – A knowledge base that works on local Markdown files

#293

Post by emmanueloga_ »

colinjoy wrote: post #262
ddrdrck_ wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Commercial license is 50$ per year. Not even 5 bucks per month. I do not think this qualifies as "expensive", especially if you intend to use it for work related stuff

If you are going to use it as a knowledge base, you are probably looking at a few years of use. Currently the closest match to this software I have installed is Quiver. Let’s compare costs over a period of 5 years: Quiver: $9.99 Obsidian: $250.00 That may not be a lot of money to you personally, but it fits my mental model of “expensive” pretty well.

wow $4 bucks a month fits your mental model of "expensive", you must live a very frugal life :-)

Re: Show HN: Obsidian – A knowledge base that works on local Markdown files

#294

Post by [deleted] »

colinjoy wrote: post #262
ddrdrck_ wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Commercial license is 50$ per year. Not even 5 bucks per month. I do not think this qualifies as "expensive", especially if you intend to use it for work related stuff

If you are going to use it as a knowledge base, you are probably looking at a few years of use. Currently the closest match to this software I have installed is Quiver. Let’s compare costs over a period of 5 years: Quiver: $9.99 Obsidian: $250.00 That may not be a lot of money to you personally, but it fits my mental model of “expensive” pretty well.

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: Obsidian – A knowledge base that works on local Markdown files

#295

Post by ahel »

Horita wrote: post #164
mjedmonds wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't need to export your data. Your data is stored in plaintext markdown files on your machine. So if it does shut down, you still have all of your content in a format that can be readily read by many, many editors

I dont think many can read properly

it's just markdown and [[two way links]]

Re: Show HN: Obsidian – A knowledge base that works on local Markdown files

#296

Post by colinjoy »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #288
colinjoy wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are going to use it as a knowledge base, you are probably looking at a few years of use. Currently the closest match to this software I have installed is Quiver. Let’s compare costs over a period of 5 years: Quiver: $9.99 Obsidian: $250.00 That may not be a lot of money to you personally, but it fits my mental model of “expensive” pretty well.

Does Quiver solve the same problems? Sorry it's a hard word to Google so not sure I found the app you are thinking of. 50/y is definitely a think about it and review yearly when budgeting type of expense as a personal expense, because all those recurring expenses add up! But as a business expense, if a $100k/y dev asks for a $50 tool I think their boss will say "why you waste my time asking, just get it and we'll pay…

I would say Quiver targets the same problem space. There’s some overlap and there are some healthy differences. I didn’t mention it to propose it as an alternative, but to illustrate that “expensive” is not just about absolute cost.

https://github.com/HappenApps/Quiver/wiki

Re: Show HN: Obsidian – A knowledge base that works on local Markdown files

#297

Post by jedberg »

ericax wrote: post #119
Veen wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is quite an odd choice. It makes sense to tier based on features, but tiers based on how or when people use an app is bizarre. Am I supposed to monitor myself so I don't read a note in Obsidian while I'm doing commercial writing work? (Also, their license page could do with some proofreading)

The idea is that if you're creating value with Obsidian, your employer should expense that, ideally it shouldn't impact you financially. If you're working for a non-profit for example, it's all free. > (Also, their license page could do with some proofreading) Interested to hear more! We did a few rounds of proofreading, did you find any typos?

Generally the way you extract value out of an enterprise customer is to sell it to their enterprise as an upsell from the personal plan. Check out Evernote's pricing for example:

https://evernote.com/compare-plans

You can use Evernote for personal or work uses. They have two tiers for that. Or you can get your company to buy it for you and at least one other person, with extra features that benefit the enterprise, not the user.

Re: Show HN: Obsidian – A knowledge base that works on local Markdown files

#298

Post by ericax »

MiroF wrote: post #200
ericax wrote: post #7

Maker here, excited to be on Hacker News. Obsidian is going into public beta today! (We're also on Product Hunt, come check us out!) We made Obsidian to be your long-term second brain and personal knowledge base. As you put in more notes and make more connections, the knowledge base gets more valuable, so we think it's important that you can 100% own your data and not rely on any cloud services. We believe you second…

I've been looking for something like this for... so long. It's like tiddlywiki but with first class & local markdown! Thank you!!! Add a separate GUI for a workflow-y like list-editing (that saves as a markdown list format) and you've got a serious competitor to Roam as well as beating out more traditional competitors like Notion, Boostnote, etc. e: ah, no inline LaTex.. I knew there was a catch!

The catch shall be fixed soon! :)

Re: Show HN: Obsidian – A knowledge base that works on local Markdown files

#300

Post by woodrowbarlow »

douglaswlance wrote: post #231
woodrowbarlow wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

proprietary software can totally be extensible, that's what plugin APIs are for. foss is cool and all, but i don't buy the implication that it's some sort of civic duty for developers to release under a foss license.

Is an open-source piece of software more extensible than closed-source? If so, then if the goal is to maximize extensibility, then open-source is required.

obviously the "as possible" is qualified.

setting that aside, though, the best way to make software (open- or closed-source) extensible is via a plugin API. without it, the only way for end users to extend open-source software is to fork and maintain the fork forever, or attempt to merge upstream. so one might argue that the quality of the plugin API (and its documentation) is the primary measure of a software's "extensibility".

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