Did the core of Obsidian have to be changed at all to support Canvas? If so, then I don't think it is like any other plugin.
If this were just another pluigin that you could download and use if you want, I really wouldn't care. It's the fact that it's considered part of the core product that gives me bad vibes. It feels like the project, even without VC money, is doing what almost every other successful project does - expand.
Do you think Obsidian will ever be considered "done"?
Did it do too much, or was it too opinionated and bloated? Obsidian is neither!
Obsidian devs have shown repeatedly that they understand why Obsidian is successful - just look at how they released this. No canvas-specific core software changes, just a new plugin that can be disabled.
We did make some API changes that would make it easier for a third party to create a plugin like Canvas. But there was nothing changed in the core solely to support Canvas.
There were two under-the-hood changes required to properly facilitate Canvas:
1. Redoing "embeds." We decided it was important for cards to work the same way our inline embeds work. So we rewrote the embed system to be properly extensible and useable by plugins. Canvas is leveraging the same system that powers ![[embeds]]
2. Untangling our editor. Previously, editors were a construct constrained to a markdown view in Obsidian. We've also done some refactoring so that a "editor" can be used anywhere, and doesn't need to be backed by a file. We see this a another big win for plugins that want to build their own editing experience
We want to keep pushing what third party plugins can do on top of Obsidian, so implementing a feature like Canvas forces us to find the limitations that exist in the API.
The question of whether Obsidian will ever be "done" is a tough one because operating systems and user expectations are a shifting landscape. Our intention is that the writing and thinking you do inside of Obsidian can be future-proof for decades, even if Obsidian itself is no longer relevant. That's why we're focused on portable formats like Markdown. However we cannot know how operating systems will change, and what will be required for Obsidian to continue working well on macOS 30 or Windows 20. Similarly, we can't close ourself off to new UI paradigms like Canvas that open up new thinking modalities our users are asking for. We hope that the modular and flexible architecture of the app allows it to remain very performant regardless of what plugins a user has turned on.
Obsidian is built on a modular architecture. Canvas view is a plugin so you can turn it off if you don't want to use it. Not much is changing with the core. You can still run Obsidian as a very lightweight app with most plugins disabled.
One of the big reasons I use Obsidian is the data portability - while it provides some nice enhancements, if Obsidian went evil tomorrow and I had to use my notes in VS Code tomorrow, then even reduced to just "a folder full of markdown", I'd get 90% of the value without relying on any convoluted importers/exporters.
I've stayed away from their Canvas feature largely because it is.. not that. Not because the Obsidian developers have kept it locked down in some crazy proprietary format, but like a JSON file representing the canvas is pretty useless without something to interpret it and these days Obsidian is still the only implementation.
So I kind of hope this takes off. Having a second source available would make me feel a lot more comfortable trying out the canvas feature.
Just gotta say I absolutely love Obsidian. I've been using it for about 6 months now and I'm continuously blown away at how versatile it is. Canvases were such an incredible addition. The plugins from the community are top notch.
I love Obsidian - its approach, the ecosystem, and the implementation.
But... I can't help but feel it will become the latest application to either pivot to something unpalatable (probably after being acquired) or become abandonware, leaving me to move to Yet Another Tool. And so it prevents me from really investing in any of it - I just use a no-frills text editor.
It's interesting, but honestly I prefer to stick with Obsidian. The biggest selling point is the huge collection of community plugins that vastly extends its capabilities, enable automation, and more fun things
Should be noted that the Core-Application is closed Source. The plugins are at the moment open source, or at least source available. I think the long term goal is to build on a rich plugin-ecosystem with a sleak core.
Also closed source doesn't really matter in this case, because it's build on open data-formats and running local. There is no vendor lockin. If the app disappears some day, you can still continue to use it or use a different markdown-editor (which are already existing today).
I like Obsidian too, but the one thing it really can't do that Notion does well is collaboration. And surprisingly I haven't seen any good plugins that solve this problem (to be fair it's not an easy problem).
It's confusing. I tried it a few time, but never really got into it. It seems very opinionated into what it offers and seems to force you into a workflow. Obsidian is more liberate and flexible in that regard.
If this were just another pluigin that you could download and use if you want, I really wouldn't care. It's the fact that it's considered part of the core product that gives me bad vibes. It feels like the project, even without VC money, is doing what almost every other successful project does - expand.
Do you think Obsidian will ever be considered "done"?
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