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Obsidian is now free for work

obsidian.md

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Re: Obsidian is now free for work

#41

Post by clvx »

silvanocerza wrote: post #37

Shameless plug, I'm working on a plugin to sync your vault with a GitHub repo. It's still under active development but it does the job. https://github.com/silvanocerza/obsidian-github-sync Feedback is more than welcome.

I've been using plain git with a git server to sync several machines even though I have to execute a script to do it in each machine. If you see the vault is just the workspace plus markdown files. I didn't know you could add plugins to obsidian. This is interesting. I do wonder if this can be added to mobile - Android/iOS.

Re: Obsidian is now free for work

#42

Post by ffsm8 »

ihuman wrote: post #30
canadianwriter wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The data is local, obsidian is just a markdown viewer at it's core. They have sync but that's a paid for product. Their model is selling to large companies and sync users. Not data sales.

> Their model is selling to large companies I'm not sure if that's the case now. Why would companies pay for licenses when they're optional and don't give any features?

Why should they have before? It was local and you could just use it?

Re: Obsidian is now free for work

#44

Post by pityJuke »

kepano wrote: post #33
_Algernon_ wrote: post #14

As someone paying personally for a commercial license that I use for work, I am not a fan. I like a clear business model otherwise I assume that I am the product being sold. Edit: They should make it open source if this is the path they take. Then users can personally verify that they (or their data) isn't being sold to the highest bidder.

Obsidian makes money from its add-on services Sync and Publish. Commercial license is joining the Catalyst license as an optional ways to support Obsidian. The problem with the Commercial license is that it wasn't clear. Many organizations were out of compliance without any way for Obsidian to enforce it, since the app is local and doesn't require sign up.

So, while you're almost certainly right about the impossibility of enforcement, I imagine many big organisations would purchase licenses anyway because they fear any minor risk of not doing so. Indeed, your Enterprise [0] page lists a number of big orgs with decent outlays.

Do you anticipate those companies to keep purchasing Obsidian now that it isn't a mandatory purchase for compliance?

(As a huge fan of Obsidian, and someone who personally purchased an Enterprise license to use within their company: god I hope so.)

[0]: https://obsidian.md/enterprise/

Re: Obsidian is now free for work

#45

Post by Analemma_ »

throw0101c wrote: post #43

How do the use-cases for Obsidian differ from Zotero? * https://www.zotero.org

Zotero is a file manager with support for research-related tasks like indexing and bibliography generation, Obsidian is a programmable notebook. They can both be used "for research" but they're fundamentally different products.

Re: Obsidian is now free for work

#46

Post by tzury »

kepano wrote: post #33
_Algernon_ wrote: post #14

As someone paying personally for a commercial license that I use for work, I am not a fan. I like a clear business model otherwise I assume that I am the product being sold. Edit: They should make it open source if this is the path they take. Then users can personally verify that they (or their data) isn't being sold to the highest bidder.

Obsidian makes money from its add-on services Sync and Publish. Commercial license is joining the Catalyst license as an optional ways to support Obsidian. The problem with the Commercial license is that it wasn't clear. Many organizations were out of compliance without any way for Obsidian to enforce it, since the app is local and doesn't require sign up.

Thank you Steph! Your product is awesome, used continuously, and works well on all platforms (laptop, phone, etc).

I am grateful and happy that I got the opportunity to thank you here.

Re: Obsidian is now free for work

#47

Post by pfix »

kepano wrote: post #33
_Algernon_ wrote: post #14

As someone paying personally for a commercial license that I use for work, I am not a fan. I like a clear business model otherwise I assume that I am the product being sold. Edit: They should make it open source if this is the path they take. Then users can personally verify that they (or their data) isn't being sold to the highest bidder.

Obsidian makes money from its add-on services Sync and Publish. Commercial license is joining the Catalyst license as an optional ways to support Obsidian. The problem with the Commercial license is that it wasn't clear. Many organizations were out of compliance without any way for Obsidian to enforce it, since the app is local and doesn't require sign up.

I thought it pretty clear. If it makes you money, you pay for it. And it's so inexpensive, I've never bothered to negotiate with my employer to fund it as I could easy pay it myself.

So now I am less incentiviced to pay and I have no path forward to negotiate with my employer to front money.

Regardless, I love the tool and your general approach, trying to keep things in publics hand (e.g. publishing and opening the canvas format) - so probably will still pay for it :D

I prefer using my own syncing though, as otherwise it's too expensive for "just syncing".

Re: Obsidian is now free for work

#48

Post by ihuman »

ffsm8 wrote: post #42
ihuman wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Their model is selling to large companies I'm not sure if that's the case now. Why would companies pay for licenses when they're optional and don't give any features?

Why should they have before? It was local and you could just use it?

Before you were in violation of the terms of use, and most companies would rather pay for a license than risk a lawsuit

Re: Obsidian is now free for work

#49

Post by bjoli »

I am not really comfortable relying on a tool that has a free tier and a subscription. I really like the app, but I will never again have the rugged pulled out under me with a quadrupling of license costs.

Do the make any kind of promises wrt the free tier?

Re: Obsidian is now free for work

#50

Post by hoten »

bjoli wrote: post #49

I am not really comfortable relying on a tool that has a free tier and a subscription. I really like the app, but I will never again have the rugged pulled out under me with a quadrupling of license costs. Do the make any kind of promises wrt the free tier?

What does it matter if the data is portable?

https://help.obsidian.md/import

Promises aren't ironclad anyhow.

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