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No Markdown support in Google Drive after all these years

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: No Markdown support in Google Drive after all these years

#81

Post by hiddew »

danielvaughn wrote: post #36
SahAssar wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"people who know what Markdown is" overlaps very much with "people who have to use google docs for work but would prefer a consistent editing experience". Basically every dev I know has to use either teams/sharepoint/office or google docs, but most are also more comfortable with using markdown and use it for technical docs. I'd love to have a google docs option of creating a "simple doc", that is backed by markdown a…

+1, I love google docs and also love markdown. If there was a shared markdown editor with the same collaborative features as google docs, i'd probably never use anything else.

We use Slite extensively at work. Works pretty well to quickly create/edit documents with a nice editor. When you type Markdown, the content automatically resolves the styling/headers/lists. Multiple persons editing a document at the same time is (of course) supported. And every document can be exported as Markdown or PDF.

Re: No Markdown support in Google Drive after all these years

#83

Post by indymike »

adrianvoica wrote: post #9
RadiozRadioz wrote: post #6

Simple: if you make your documents in Markdown, you won't be making them in Google Docs. Stuff made in Google Docs is sticky, increases your dependence on Google, and importantly has a valuable network effect due to their collaboration features. It is in Google's best interest to encourage you to rely on their proprietary services instead of offering you alternatives that allow you to switch provider easily. Addition…

'Additionally, the "people who know what Markdown is but also like trusting Google with their files" demographic is vanishingly small and not who Drive is targeting at all.' <--this 200%

I agree with this. Most people have know idea what markdown is, and if they do use it, it is usually the text format behind a WYSIWYG editor... Some examples: Slack, Github...

Re: No Markdown support in Google Drive after all these years

#85

Post by z3t4 »

adrianvoica wrote: post #54
z3t4 wrote: post #33

You just open a markdown editor, that has built in Google Drive support. And edit from there.

You are missing the point. I am spending most of my day inside VS Code, using it for writing Markdown content as well. Apples to oranges. I don't want the author of some 3rd party obscure app looking at my content without my consent. I don't say I trust Google 100%, but I trust Google more than 3rd parties that I know nothing about.

Also see my other comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36466406#36467459

Why do you trust Google and Microsoft, companies known to spy on their users, rather then some small company who would go under if someone found out they spied on their users?

I'm not saying everyone that's using Google or Microsoft are stupid, I'm trying to understand why people trust Google and Microsoft, is it because so many are already using them, or is it that you have been using them for a long time because you had no other choice ?

Re: No Markdown support in Google Drive after all these years

#86

Post by phantomathkg »

pdntspa wrote: post #82

You have a whole-ass computer that can run software made to read Markdown, what do you need Google Drive for? Adjust your workflow, the tools exist.

I would imagine the author is asking a question from a company where Google Workspace is the default tool, and would like to produce document that can be shared with others in Google Drive?

Re: No Markdown support in Google Drive after all these years

#87

Post by indymike »

RadiozRadioz wrote: post #6

Simple: if you make your documents in Markdown, you won't be making them in Google Docs. Stuff made in Google Docs is sticky, increases your dependence on Google, and importantly has a valuable network effect due to their collaboration features. It is in Google's best interest to encourage you to rely on their proprietary services instead of offering you alternatives that allow you to switch provider easily. Addition…

Google docs can only represent a subset of the document formatting and features in markdown (yes, there are html literals in markdown, but even then it isn't enough). Markdown could be an import/export format... but I can't see it working well with the Docs editor.

Re: No Markdown support in Google Drive after all these years

#88

Post by pdntspa »

phantomathkg wrote: post #86
pdntspa wrote: post #82

You have a whole-ass computer that can run software made to read Markdown, what do you need Google Drive for? Adjust your workflow, the tools exist.

I would imagine the author is asking a question from a company where Google Workspace is the default tool, and would like to produce document that can be shared with others in Google Drive?

You can mount Drive to a drive or mountpoint and edit it with a local tool.

You can style the document in some other form of markup.

You can use the tools given to produce the result you want.

It strikes me as modern cargo-culting to expect cloud providers like Google to cater to niche crowds. We already know they don't care very much about the long tail. If Drive isn't supporting markdown, it's pretty obvious by now that it is not a priority for them.

And the tone of the title on here is pretty damn presumptuous. It's like new gamers complaining that some new game doesn't come with photo mode, cloud save, 100% customizable clothing, etc, all these optional things that used to be ancillary but are now somehow a requirement.

Re: No Markdown support in Google Drive after all these years

#89

Post by indymike »

danielvaughn wrote: post #36
SahAssar wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"people who know what Markdown is" overlaps very much with "people who have to use google docs for work but would prefer a consistent editing experience". Basically every dev I know has to use either teams/sharepoint/office or google docs, but most are also more comfortable with using markdown and use it for technical docs. I'd love to have a google docs option of creating a "simple doc", that is backed by markdown a…

+1, I love google docs and also love markdown. If there was a shared markdown editor with the same collaborative features as google docs, i'd probably never use anything else.

Sounds a lot like something like Notion?

Re: No Markdown support in Google Drive after all these years

#90

Post by fastball »

indymike wrote: post #89
danielvaughn wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1, I love google docs and also love markdown. If there was a shared markdown editor with the same collaborative features as google docs, i'd probably never use anything else.

Sounds a lot like something like Notion?

Notion doesn't use Markdown.
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