Obsidian is now free for work - Obsidian
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I thought this was about a different obsidian lol
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It's regrettable that Obsidian isn't open source. But the nice thing about it is that its data store is just a bunch of markdown files in a folder structure, and very easily migrated to any other application. They may have the code but they don't take the data hostage like a lot of commercial software does.
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"...until we have a large enough userbase to start monetizing and enshittifying..."
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Still closed source.
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Thanks for sharing I didn't know about this one and it's robust as keep
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At least if/when that happens all your files are in markdown, owned and controlled by you so migrating to another tool is pretty easy.
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What's the catch?
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If you want to sync your notes between devices, Obsidian Sync is $48 a year. But since it's all just markdown files anyway, you could just use dropbox to sync them anyway.
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Agreed, I use it with as few options and extensions as possible. I don't want to start creating a complex system of notes that will rely on anything specific. I try to stick to the core functions without any extras because of the worry of eventually falling into a proprietary black hole. I keep my foot in just enough to get my uses but not so much that I might get stuck with the software.
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Use Logseq. It’s amazing IMO. And OSS
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I assume this means free for local use? Not any kind of backups?
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I don't necessarily like a few takes in the comments here.
Vibes wise the Obsidian team seems to be great and they don't seem to have shown any reason why I should distrust them. I love FOSS but gifting others my work doesn't put food on my table, so in that sense they need to have a lucrative business model which they seem to have established.
I could use SyncThing, Git or other solutions to do synchronisation between my devices but I choose to buy their Sync offer, since I want to support them (they also have EU servers, which need to be GDPR compliant by law afaik).
The closest comparison I could make is NextCloud. NextCloud open sources their software, but they sell convenience. Sure, you could self host it, but paying them to do so for you may be more attractive. In comparison Obsidian is not really complicated to set up or maintain. It's literally just a MD-editor. So the only convenient thing to sell is synchronisation if you don't want to put a price tag on the software.
If they open source all their code, some tech wizard will implement a self hosted obsidian sync server with the same convenience as theirs in a day, and the company will lose their revenue stream.
We've all been burned by tech bros in one way or another, but I think it's ok for people to profit off of their IP. And they seem to be doing so with a positive vision. Feel free to let me eat my words if they ever go rogue, but that's my 2 cents.
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I mean all the plug-ins should work
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Why would they donate server space to you on top of giving you free (beer) software?
The way some of you think is very odd to me.
Back up your own shit or pay for sync.
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Same. I've never heard of the Obsidian in the OP, so I was hoping they somehow left Microsoft and were looking for a game designer or something.
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The community plugin “Google Drive Sync” is free, open source, and lets you (clunkily but effectively) bypass Obsydian Sync. One less server to manage.
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The canvas built in is the easiest UI I’ve used to make mind maps, I’d surely miss it if I had to migrate.
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It's a very, very different approach having everything as a bullet point though.
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Switched from Onenote to obsidian. There was a small learning curve and I had to install some plugins, but I love it. It looks amazing and runs so much faster than OneNote ever did.
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Thanks for the rare, rational comment regarding Obsidian. Many people here seem to think releasing software as closed source automatically means you have something to hide; seemingly forgetting we live in a capitalist system in which you must constantly sell your services to survive. (I am saying this as someone who adores FOSS and donates to most of my homelab software on a regular basis).
I think a more productive way to look at is: is the closed source dev friendly (or at least non-hostile) to the open source community? In the case of Obsidian, they haven't done anything egregious, and regularly contribute to open source plugins. Furthermore, the notes are stored as markdown files. This gives the user strong resistance against potential enshittification, so even if they did go rogue you can just move to some other text editor lol. Granted, you would miss out on plugins but otherwise that's a good reason to keep your plugin usage light and plan your Obsidian vault accordingly.
