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I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten
JavaJones:
Speaking of online vs. offline and Anytype, I recently got onto the private beta for it and it's surprisingly good already. It's pretty much feature-parity with Notion for *pages* functionality, but has no usable database functions as yet. It's clear though that they will get there as there is a hidden DB that indexes *all of your pages* already. And that's exciting, if they keep it, because it means all pages will be able to have meta-data, be sortable, filterable, etc. in DB views. This is unlike Notion, where there is a hard distinction between Pages (stand-alone) and Pages in a DB.
Happy to answer questions anyone has on Anytype in present state, too.
- Oshyan
Dormouse:
all of these systems pretty much import and export various flavors of markdown.
-JavaJones (September 06, 2020, 06:08 PM)
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One big advantage of files is that there is no export. I have them and I know what they look like. I never have to worry about changes to what is exported or glitches in the system.
Dormouse:
a very clear and important distinction between cloud/SaaS (Roam, Notion) and desktop/offline, perhaps with optional cloud sync (Obsidian, Anytype).
-JavaJones (September 06, 2020, 06:08 PM)
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I agree that this is an important distinction, but most of the database systems have online availability.
A few advertise a local database as a USP, but that brings a heavy price in terms of availability on all devices. My own guess is that these will wither and only the cloud sync (optional or not) will survive. Many programs are happy to advertise the program as free and only charge for sync - they know that's the best combination for hooking new users and making continuing users pay.
Dormouse:
I think this DB or files thing may be a false dichotomy, at least for many people. I've yet to see a compelling real-world example of specific, practical workflows that would necessitate "files" that have no DB component. I think you may feel strongly that your own workflows demonstrate this, so I'd love to hear some examples of how you intend to (or already do) work this way and what significant advantages it brings you (vs. for example an Obsidian plugin that does the same thing as some external tool you use directly on files).
-JavaJones (September 06, 2020, 06:08 PM)
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For many I agree the distinction is moot. They want all functions within a program and, in practice, a database works better for them. Because for many things a database can work faster or introduce features that are cumbersome in plain standalone files.
For me the workflow advantage of files is simple: I use other programs with those files. Those programs are standalone and feature rich. If one falls by the wayside, I can use another. I can use them at the same time as I have them open in Obsidian. I am not limited to whatever is available in Obsidian. I can simultaneously use Obsidian competitors such as Foam or Dendron. Because I can do this at the same time there is no switching disadvantage compared to an Obsidian plugin; in fact there's an advantage because I can use multiple windows where Obsidian is limited to one window per vault (apparently a limitation of Electron).
I don't care about when the Obsidian editor becomes wysiwyg because I can just use Typora. In practice I do most of my writing in WriteMonkey. I often have ProWritingAid open on the files.
Dormouse:
I think there are other ways to achieve/solve the feature/functionality desires you have that make you want to work with "files", while still having nothing to do with a files vs. DB distinction.
-JavaJones (September 06, 2020, 06:08 PM)
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But the distinction is key to being able to use the other programs.
In theory, their features could be duplicated, but I doubt they will be and my freedom of choice will be reduced.
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