Hi, I love Obsidian. It’s part of my daily routine since a year or so, and I use it to store all my work and personal notes for the future. The main reason I use it is because of its note storage method. Instead of relying on a database, it utilizes plain text files written in Markdown, as most of you already know.
However, I have a strange feeling about it not being open source. The recent events with Reddit have only increased this discomfort. My notes are in plain Markdown, so I have the assurance that no one can forbid me from accessing them. I also take precautions by creating multiple backups, which provides additional security against virtual loss if I handle things correctly (which I do).
That being said, I would love to have alternatives like Joplin or LogSeq that adhere to the same philosophy of work as Obsidian.
Joplin is not suitable for me due to its reliance on database storage. I prefer to have total control over my notes. On the other hand, LogSeq is more focused on serving as a diary rather than a personal knowledge manager, and it does not use pure markdown, wich will be a problem in the future when (not if) I’ll need to migrate out of LogSeq.
Honesty I think Obsidian as a product. They have done a pretty good job of keeping my data open and available in the Obsidian Vault.
I pay them for Sync, so I consider it a service for them to maintain and upgrade the software. I would prefer the client be open source but it would hurt their ability to stay afloat and profitable to pay their employees.
If they go under or start an “enshittification” I can just take my JSON and markdown and make my own client or use one of the hundreds of other markdown clients to get my information.
I would prefer it to be open-source, but at least the data format (markdown) is ubiquitous and stored wherever I want it to be stored.
This is how I’ve been thinking of it too. If an equivalent open-source solution comes out, it’ll be really easy to switch to, but right now Obsidian is just unbeatable.
Honestly, the whole thing felt like a textbook example of a modern FOSS program (based on the website, the premise etc) that I was quite surprised when I found out it wasn’t open source. I think it’s unfortunate.
