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Evernote alternative

BigMcGuire said:
But what proof do we have that they're running their servers correctly? They have a LOT less to lose from server intrusions than Apple.
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BigMcGuire said:
Don't get me wrong, Standard Note looks nice - but you have to trust them that they're doing everything right on the back end ..... pretty much the SAME as Apple. Seems a little eyebrow raising to me to trust a small no-name company with this over something like Apple.

And I can program - I have for many years. Despite this I've never actually opened open source source code to verify stuff (and I've used a fair number of Open Sourcecode applications).

Just me. :p I'd trust the company that has a lot more to lose. Or, none (local only).
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I heard this arguemnet before that there is no way you can confirm the software on the server, but I also heard it is possible. IDK. To answer your question:

Has Standard Notes completed a third-party security audit?

We've completed four (4) security audits to date by industry-leading security firms, which cover the entirety of our ecosystem. You can review the results below. * SERVER BACKEND PENETRATION TEST AND SECURITY ASSESSMENT — 2022 This audit covered our server applications and services...
standardnotes.com standardnotes.com

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You are right about not trusting the small and obscure guys but here is the current situation:-

* I trust community and smaller project that are popular between the privacy conscience crowd + FOSS. I do pick and choose based on popularity of the product and how much its trusted by others and general media.

* Big tech does not care about your privacy. In fact they tell it in your face in their privacy policy that they will collect and share information so they do not get tangled in lawsuits. Privacy breaching big techs are making more money than ever (Meta, Google, TikTok, Uber, Alexa, Microsoft) . They even have been sent to court and paid fines, they still don't care.

Apple shared customer data with US government in a record-high 90% of cases, even as Trump administration complains it's not doing enough

While I am not asking Apple to break the law, if they had chosen to encrypt the information of their users, even handing the information over would be useless because the encrypted information are nearly uncrackable. Thats what Proton.me does!
 

HEADS UP​

​

Notesnook.com is now FOSS! Its proclaiming to be an evernote alternative. I have no reason to recommend it as its probably way back in the features department and I think they still do not have a desktop app but if you encourage FOSS software and more privacy oriented apps this is an option now.

Hopefully it grows to something better in the future.
 
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MacBH928 said:
I heard this arguemnet before that there is no way you can confirm the software on the server, but I also heard it is possible. IDK. To answer your question:

Has Standard Notes completed a third-party security audit?

We've completed four (4) security audits to date by industry-leading security firms, which cover the entirety of our ecosystem. You can review the results below. * SERVER BACKEND PENETRATION TEST AND SECURITY ASSESSMENT — 2022 This audit covered our server applications and services...
standardnotes.com standardnotes.com

-
You are right about not trusting the small and obscure guys but here is the current situation:-

* I trust community and smaller project that are popular between the privacy conscience crowd + FOSS. I do pick and choose based on popularity of the product and how much its trusted by others and general media.

* Big tech does not care about your privacy. In fact they tell it in your face in their privacy policy that they will collect and share information so they do not get tangled in lawsuits. Privacy breaching big techs are making more money than ever (Meta, Google, TikTok, Uber, Alexa, Microsoft) . They even have been sent to court and paid fines, they still don't care.

Apple shared customer data with US government in a record-high 90% of cases, even as Trump administration complains it's not doing enough

While I am not asking Apple to break the law, if they had chosen to encrypt the information of their users, even handing the information over would be useless because the encrypted information are nearly uncrackable. Thats what Proton.me does!
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I appreciate your responses and read every word / link. While I agree that Apple doesn't care about my privacy they care about their image which includes our privacy to an extent. The almighty $ is their god and will always be their god. Thanks for opening my eyes up to these other note taking companies - didn't know they existed before seeing them here.

Again thanks for the information and effort you put into your posts.
 
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BigMcGuire said:
I appreciate your responses and read every word / link. While I agree that Apple doesn't care about my privacy they care about their image which includes our privacy to an extent. The almighty $ is their god and will always be their god. Thanks for opening my eyes up to these other note taking companies - didn't know they existed before seeing them here.

Again thanks for the information and effort you put into your posts.
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You are welcome!

I think Apple tries to paint themselves as a privacy conscience choice for the general public but reports show that this is not the case. I guess one's own morals degrade when he figures he can make an extra $3-5 Billion a year if he shared the info his customers trusted him with

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I didn't know about all those note apps either except after much search on the internet and interacting with other members here!
 
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I opened Joplin for MacOS and its a much better app on desktop than iOS. I hope it gets better in the future.

Still I find Standard Notes and Joplin the best options for light notes. Hopefully their mobile apps get better.
 
Almost doubling in price. That hurts. But it is such a great app guess I'll have to eat it.
 
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WOW what a price jump.

I've moved all my note taking to Apple and https://www.notebooksapp.com/ (work).

Been pretty happy with these two, obviously they may not work for everyone but I'm so happy not paying a subscription for a notes application anymore.

Companies today think they can increase prices without limit with no consequences... But that's a whole other discussion I guess. I've dropped so many subscriptions/services this year because of it.
 
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MacBH928 said:
Suicidal move in a down economy but I am guessing their user base are all Pro who use it for a living. I am pretty sure no average joe is paying $7 month for an online text editor. I mean for $7 you can get full microsoft suite with 1TB storage.
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This is my baseline too. If it doesn't beat the O365 subscription and offer as many services - I'm most likely not going to do it.
 
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+1 for Obsidian.
You own your own data. No worries about future exporting.
You can sync with multiple solutions, and many are encrypted. Or don't sync.
Amazingly extensible and customizable. The only downside are the Electron apps.
Oh, did I mention it's free? You can pay for things like their encrypted Sync solution.
I will never go back to one of these closed models.
 
BigMcGuire said:
WOW what a price jump.

I've moved all my note taking to Apple and https://www.notebooksapp.com/ (work).

Been pretty happy with these two, obviously they may not work for everyone but I'm so happy not paying a subscription for a notes application anymore.

Companies today think they can increase prices without limit with no consequences... But that's a whole other discussion I guess. I've dropped so many subscriptions/services this year because of it.
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TBF , developer got to eat. People's expectancy of everything being free online is not healthy for software development. Its not magic. Not saying everything should be subscription, but nor everything should be free. License model with free trial, or limited free version works great IMO.

BigMcGuire said:
This is my baseline too. If it doesn't beat the O365 subscription and offer as many services - I'm most likely not going to do it.
Click to expand...

Again, TBF, O360 is a damn good value. MS Office used to cost an eye-watering $880 (fixed for inflation) in the year 2000. Now you are getting at $84/year + a mega 1TB free storage. Thats like subsidizing it over 11 year times.
 
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newton4000 said:
+1 for Obsidian.
You own your own data. No worries about future exporting.
You can sync with multiple solutions, and many are encrypted. Or don't sync.
Amazingly extensible and customizable. The only downside are the Electron apps.
Oh, did I mention it's free? You can pay for things like their encrypted Sync solution.
I will never go back to one of these closed models.
Click to expand...

idk, Obsidian felt so heavy like launching MS Office in the year 1996. Plus what I believe it differentiates it is that it can link to other notes within its archives. Is this form of linking exportable?
 
MacBH928 said:
idk, Obsidian felt so heavy like launching MS Office in the year 1996. Plus what I believe it differentiates it is that it can link to other notes within its archives. Is this form of linking exportable?
Click to expand...
The standard theme does look like Windows 95 but you a theme to your heart's content.
But for sure - it is not the friendliest or prettiest of programs and requires investment.
It is one of many new programs that allow linking - so that is not really what differentiates it from many of these. If you plan to export the links, the other program would have to support it as well
 
I have tried Obsidian. It's good, it's flexible in its appearance (I use the Typomagic theme), and it keeps and manages its files as normal markdown files in your directory system, unlike Joplin.
However...
I find that Zettlr has those same advantages, and is linked in with Pandoc (even has a copy built-in to its code). Its export facilities are unbelievable, you can export a file, or multi-file document(called a Project) to Word, ODT, Markdown, LaTeX, two formats of PDF, RTF, and many others.
Zettlr, also, is free and cross-platform - Mac, Windows and Linux.

PS, the name Zettlr comes from Zettelkasten, a German note-keeping and management system. However, for my purposes, I find it more useful as a universal writing system.
 
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newton4000 said:
The standard theme does look like Windows 95 but you a theme to your heart's content.
But for sure - it is not the friendliest or prettiest of programs and requires investment.
It is one of many new programs that allow linking - so that is not really what differentiates it from many of these. If you plan to export the links, the other program would have to support it as well
Click to expand...

I didn't talk about the theme, the app feels heavy. If you are younger you probably didn't have the joy of launching MS office on a 1996 computer

DaveFromCampbelltown said:
I have tried Obsidian. It's good, it's flexible in its appearance (I use the Typomagic theme), and it keeps and manages its files as normal markdown files in your directory system, unlike Joplin.
However...
I find that Zettlr has those same advantages, and is linked in with Pandoc (even has a copy built-in to its code). Its export facilities are unbelievable, you can export a file, or multi-file document(called a Project) to Word, ODT, Markdown, LaTeX, two formats of PDF, RTF, and many others.
Zettlr, also, is free and cross-platform - Mac, Windows and Linux.

PS, the name Zettlr comes from Zettelkasten, a German note-keeping and management system. However, for my purposes, I find it more useful as a universal writing system.
Click to expand...

Zettlr looks identical to Obsidian, is it Electron too?
The folders&files panel is overwhelming to look at. My understanding computer programmers like this kind of setup to do coding but for mere mortals something like Apple Notes is much more pleasant
 
MacBH928 said:
I didn't talk about the theme, the app feels heavy. If you are younger you probably didn't have the joy of launching MS office on a 1996 computer
Click to expand...
I have used DOS and AppleSoft Basic so not young but have no idea what you mean by heavy. Resource wise? Not sure that's true. It's definitely not pretty and has tons of options. Luckily, no Clippy in sight.
MacBH928 said:
Zettlr looks identical to Obsidian, is it Electron too?
The folders&files panel is overwhelming to look at. My understanding computer programmers like this kind of setup to do coding but for mere mortals something like Apple Notes is much more pleasant
Click to expand...

I would strongly disagree that it's for coders only. Not even sure it's a good set up for coders at all. You do not need any coding experience and many academics etc are using it. However, it's definitely not as easy or as pretty out of the box as Apple Notes. Apple Notes is great and if it suits your needs it's perfect. The integration with the system can't be beat.
 
MacBH928 said:
I didn't talk about the theme, the app feels heavy. If you are younger you probably didn't have the joy of launching MS office on a 1996 computer



Zettlr looks identical to Obsidian, is it Electron too?
The folders&files panel is overwhelming to look at. My understanding computer programmers like this kind of setup to do coding but for mere mortals something like Apple Notes is much more pleasant
Click to expand...

You can hide the Workspaces panel, and just have an editing pane, or you can hide the Additional Information (under the Views menu item) and just have the file/folder names.

Zettlr is a Knowledge Management app, but I just like it as it is a very powerful writing app. You can use it either way. I just found that it more useful than Obsidian.

As well, I like to use applications that are multi-platform, which Apple Notes isn't.
 
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newton4000 said:
I have used DOS and AppleSoft Basic so not young but have no idea what you mean by heavy. Resource wise? Not sure that's true. It's definitely not pretty and has tons of options. Luckily, no Clippy in sight.
Click to expand...

Well if you remember it took like 30-60s to launch those apps. There is a reason people hate Electron apps, and that it loads a full chromium browser along with it...at least thats how I understand it works. There are lightweight apps and bloated apps.

newton4000 said:
I would strongly disagree that it's for coders only. Not even sure it's a good set up for coders at all. You do not need any coding experience and many academics etc are using it. However, it's definitely not as easy or as pretty out of the box as Apple Notes. Apple Notes is great and if it suits your needs it's perfect. The integration with the system can't be beat.
Click to expand...

I didn't say its for coders, I said the looks of the app seems like a coding app
 
BigMcGuire said:
It's been a few years since I've written that.

I use Apple Notes exclusively for my note taking now - personal. I use Diarly for my personal journaling. Lastly, I use Microsoft OneNote for my work notes - (our work uses O365 extensively).

Since I wrote that post the only other note application that came close to making me switch was https://www.notebooksapp.com/ - it's good, it's a one time fee, and it works well with iCloud and Windows. But I ended up going OneNote for my work notes and staying with Apple Notes because of its simplicity and features.

Apple Notes is even more attractive to me now because of the end to end encryption Apple offers.


My thoughts? I do not want to keep moving around using different note applications. I don't want to pay a subscription if I can help it.

I've gone more digital with my note taking as I've aged over the last several years. I almost never use the Apple Pencil anymore. I either type something or scratch it on paper and scan it in. Apple Notes works perfectly for me. It's safe, it's featured, and it handles everything I throw at it - finding stuff is super easy too. It's become my second brain.


I've tried and try other note applications just to make sure I'm not missing something. I love Bear's simplicity, I love Ulysses's features, I like OneNote's power - but Apple Notes just works so well for me across my devices - my Watch, iPhone, and MacBook. Apple Notes it has been primarily. I just wish I had a way to back them up (but I've never lost data) and/or a transfer feature if I ever decide to leave Apple someday. But it doesn't stop me from using it heavily.

The older I get, the more I use my notes and rely on them. My notes usage has 2-3xed over the last few years.

Grass is always greener on the other side. But it's good to know what's over there. :)
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Thanks for the extensive info. After using different note taking apps, I've also landed back at Apple Notes for most of my note taking. At the moment I'm deciding on which app to use for setting up a journal. Since Apple Notes introduced end-to-end encryption, I was thinking about maybe keeping a simple journal within Apple Notes itself, since it doesn't require an extra subscription.

I'm curious for your opinion on journal apps. Would you consider a dedicated journal app a necessity? Or could Apple Notes suffice? And is there a reason why you've chosen Diarly, instead of DayOne for instance?
 
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Wald00 said:
Thanks for the extensive info. After using different note taking apps, I've also landed back at Apple Notes for most of my note taking. At the moment I'm deciding on which app to use for setting up a journal. Since Apple Notes introduced end-to-end encryption, I was thinking about maybe keeping a simple journal within Apple Notes itself, since it doesn't require an extra subscription.

I'm curious for your opinion on journal apps. Would you consider a dedicated journal app a necessity? Or could Apple Notes suffice? And is there a reason why you've chosen Diarly, instead of DayOne for instance?
Click to expand...
I was a HEAVY user of Day One when it came out - used it for many years until it got sold. I don't like the idea of social media so just for fun I tried out a ton of different journaling apps (Diarium, Diarly, and a few others). I settled on Diarly because it let me keep my journal data in iCloud instead of on some company server. So I moved to Diarly. Been using that happily for years now.

If I had to do it over again I would definitely consider Apple Notes because I like having everything in one place.

But... what I like about Diarly is - The ability to see all entries on a specific day, and it is a separate place that won't appear in search results when I'm showing notes to someone, because yes, I rely HEAVILY on Apple Notes and use it for everything now. (Except for journaling, I use Diarly). lol.
 
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BigMcGuire said:
I was a HEAVY user of Day One when it came out - used it for many years until it got sold. I don't like the idea of social media so just for fun I tried out a ton of different journaling apps (Diarium, Diarly, and a few others). I settled on Diarly because it let me keep my journal data in iCloud instead of on some company server. So I moved to Diarly. Been using that happily for years now.

If I had to do it over again I would definitely consider Apple Notes because I like having everything in one place.

But... what I like about Diarly is - The ability to see all entries on a specific day, and it is a separate place that won't appear in search results when I'm showing notes to someone, because yes, I rely HEAVILY on Apple Notes and use it for everything now. (Except for journaling, I use Diarly). lol.
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Very insightful. Separating journal entries from my normal notes is indeed something to consider. I'll at least give Diarly a try first, to see if it suits me. Thanks!
 
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