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7 posts total
kepano

Thoughts on Omnivore shutting down (1/3)

Many people enjoyed Omnivore because it was free, but being free was part of its demise.

As an independent app maker, you must have a way to generate revenue or your product will die. As a user you must demand a way to pay makers for the products you love. See my essay: "Quality software deserves your hard‑earned cash"
stephango.com/quality-software

30 October at 10:56 | Open on mastodon.social
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Colin Devroe

@kepano I try my very best to pay for all software that I use. And when companies don't allow me to, I know my principles don't align with theirs.

This happened with Arc cdevroe.com/2023/08/30/dear-ar

And now we see they are abandoning what was a very good app.

30 October at 12:24 | Open on mastodon.social
reaty

@kepano I think there is also an issue of it being an online servise. You can make an offline product for free out of love, and then, when you lose interest or run out of resources you can just abandon it, maybe open-source it, and it still going to work. But with online thing you need to pay for the servers and provide constant support, which is hard to do endlessly on pure enthusiasm...

30 October at 12:27 | Open on mastodon.social
Christian Krebel

@kepano 2 weeks is too short, there should be some minimum time frame for cases like this. 1-3 months.

30 October at 17:32 | Open on ohai.social
kepano

On September 9th, Notion will delete the data of all Russian users due to new U.S. sanctions.

This is why "file over app" is essential — you should not be subject to the whims of platforms and governments. Be sovereign of your own data.

Restrictions for customers based in Russia The U.S. government has introduced restrictions prohibiting access to certain software products and services to any person in Russia. Due to these restrictions, on September 9, 2024, Notion will no longer provide users located in Russia access to the platform. This includes: Preventing users from accessing Notion’s services while in Russia. Users in workspaces that have never had billing associated with Russia will be able to regain access to Notion once outside Russia. If any billing information connected with the workspace is currently or was previously associated with Russia, the workspace will be terminated. This is necessary for compliance with sanctions, and updating an account’s billing information will not change the restriction. Terminating subscription payments for all plans identified as having any billing information associated with Russia, historical or current. Impacted users will be able to access their workspaces through September 8, 2024. On September 9, 2024, the workspaces will no longer be accessible and users located in Russia will no longer be able to access Notion’s services.
28 August at 18:04 | Open on mastodon.social
kepano
Vasyl Spodin

@kepano It’s not due to sanctions, but due to running unprovoked and genocide war against Ukraine.

“Peace over war” and “Life over death” are essential. Those who spitting on international law and executing aggression against sovereign countries must be banned from using any tech created by free world.

28 August at 20:29 | Open on mastodon.social
kepano

Obsidian is local, offline, and privacy-first, so we won't consider adding AI features until they can fit with the principles in our Manifesto.

In the meantime, there are dozens of awesome #Obsidian plugins that allow you to work with LLMs.

obsidian.md/about

7 June at 20:10 | Open on mastodon.social
Comb 🍯

@kepano Thank you so much for your work on Obsidian :blobcatheart: This is a godsend, literally!
LLMs have an interesting future for management, but, sadly, they need a lot of polishing until it truly blooms

7 June at 21:13 | Open on mastodon.ml
kepano

These are all separate vectors:

1. VC vs user-supported
2. Files vs databases
3. Open vs proprietary formats
4. Open vs closed source
5. Extensible vs non-extensible
6. Private vs privacy-invasive

An open source app can be VC-backed, store its data in a proprietary format, have terrible APIs, and include telemetry

11 February at 19:33 | Open on mastodon.social
kepano

Why @obsidian is 100% user-supported and not backed by VC investors

Why Obsidian is 100% user-supported and not backed by VC investors: 1. We want to stay small, we don't need to hire lots of people 2. We follow strict principles that we do not want compromise 3. Our users are happy to support us, we don't need VC money Obsidian will not exist forever, no app will. However, the files you create in Obsidian are yours, and can hopefully last for generations. VCware is built with a five year horizon, it is not built to live on for decades. Many startup founders raise VC money because they need the upfront capital to build their product, or they see it as a shortcut to growth. For some products the capital truly is necessary, but too often it's fueled by impatience and the inertia of Silicon Valley. In the short term, VCware tends to subsidize pricing to acquire users. It's easier to grow if your product is cheap or free. But this generally comes at the cost of hoarding user data, and locking in customers. Once you're in you can't get out.
To keep raising money, VCware must paint an increasingly enormous vision of their future, which becomes impossible to live up to. This leads to increasingly disparate priorities that gradually make the product worse. What starts off as a useful app become burdened with crap. Eventually all VCware must exit. That means being acquired or going public to pay back investors. It's expected that 9 out 10 startups will fail. That's just part of the math in a VC portfolio. The startups that have big exits pay for the ones that fail. It is now possible for tiny teams to make principled software that millions of people use, unburdened by investors. Principled apps that put people in control of their data, their privacy, their wellbeing. These principles can be irrevocably built into the architecture of the app. Principled people have always been able to make principled software. The difference is that now you need far less money and far fewer employees to reach far more customers. That wave is only just beginning. If you have principles and enough patience, being 100% user-supported is by far the most fun way to build.
11 February at 0:12 | Open on mastodon.social
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kepano

Skiff raised ~$14m in VC to build an open source alternative Google Suite. Now it's being acquired by Notion and the code has been taken down.

All software is ephemeral. File over app.

10 February at 22:50 | Open on mastodon.social
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kepano
cero

@kepano So when is Obsidian going open source? 🤔

10 February at 23:41 | Open on iceshrimp.social
DELETED

@kepano@mastodon.social

> VC

seems to be a rather common problem, investors' money is not as infinite as it may seem, and also gives them some kind of leverage over the project direction

11 February at 0:16 | Open on shitpost.poridge.club
kepano

Obsidian Canvas is now available on mobile! ✨

With #obsidian 1.1.15 we also made lots of improvements to Canvas

- Added settings for display and behavior
- Canvas content appears in global search results
- Resize multiple cards at once
- Block-based cards
- Background images

Also, we're now on Mastodon: @obsidian

Obsidian Canvas showing visual layout of notes and images for a work in progress cookie recipe.
22 Feb 2023 at 17:07 | Open on mastodon.social
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