[aquariusDue]

Hi! Not the OP but I've used Obsidian since before 2020 till about 2022 when I switched to org-mode and Emacs.

I like the new Obsidian features like the CLI a lot but I still feel Obsidian inherently is incredibly similar to org-mode and Emacs (guess that's why I was drawn to both) in the sense that both work with local data and file formats that usually can be opened in any text editor but both of them bolt so much stuff on top that the files themselves (markdown or org) become incredibly coupled and hard to use by themselves.

Now of course in Obsidian's case you're not forced to install a lot of plugins that lead to this issue but I don't know a lot of people that have the diligence to keep their notes "light". Though if I remember from your blog post showcasing how you do note-taking you might qualify.

And then it's also the fact that you've got a powerful piece of kit and now you're not supposed to mold it to your needs and preferences and avoid driving it hard, instead you're forced to practice discipline. Sure, there's something to be said for that too but that's besides the point.

If I understood correctly Obsidian is readying for a plugin marketplace akin to the Unity Asset Store and I'm personally thinking this might drive you to monetize Obsidian harder even though you've shown throughout the years you're a great steward of it.

To get to the point finally I guess people are worried that because Obsidian itself is not open source at some point it might evolve in a way that becomes incompatible with most peoples' preferences and for me that's where something like org-mode and Emacs inch ahead because it's FOSS.

That said thank you for Obsidian. It was my entry point towards clearer thinking and brought a semblance of structure when I needed it most. I don't use it anymore but I watch enthusiastically from the sidelines.

tl;dr the chance of a paid plugin marketplace might signal a shift in the community

[kepano]

> the chance of a paid plugin marketplace might signal a shift in the community

Where the heck are you getting this from? We are explicitly not doing this.

[aquariusDue]

My bad! I've mixed up some parts from this official blog post[0] and some talk in the community.

I thought the "What does it mean for a plugin to be Paid or have Optional Payments?" part from the FAQ was hinting towards the chance for people to sell plugins on https://community.obsidian.md/ and Obsidian itself would facilitate the transaction for a small cut at some point in the future.

I'm glad that's not the case and I apologize again for the confusion though I hope it's clear now why I believed this in the first place.

[0] https://obsidian.md/blog/future-of-plugins/

[kepano]

I really don't understand how one could come to that conclusion. The blog post states that "Obsidian Community is not a store". I wrote that so that the community explicitly knows we are not going in that direction.

The new labels are meant to indicate which plugins have payments, since many plugins connect to paid services. There is no intention for Obsidian to ever become a middleman.

[aquariusDue]

Yeah, that's on me. Thanks for clearing this up. I hope my previous comment didn't come across as doubling down on my mistake!

Now after our interaction I don't worry that much that Obsidian is closed source, it's clear that it's in the right hands.

Also I want to say that I hope JSON Canvas catches on, initially I was worried that the Canvas feature would lead to a "soft lockdown" but it isn't the case and I've found out about it recently. Thank you for the work that went into it!