[HN Gopher] Anytype: A local, privacy-first Notion alternative
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       Anytype: A local, privacy-first Notion alternative
        
       Author : weakfish
       Score  : 31 points
       Date   : 2022-05-28 17:59 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (anytype.io)
 (TXT) w3m dump (anytype.io)
        
       | edbaskerville wrote:
       | "Anytype is co-owned and co-created by the people who use it.
       | Everyone is welcome to contribute to Anytype and everyone is
       | rewarded."
       | 
       | Is Anytype a DAO?
       | 
       | I'm getting whiffs of blockchain/"web3" stuff between the lines
       | here, but they seem to be actively avoiding using those words.
       | 
       | Can someone confirm/deny? If so, can you explain what exactly the
       | relationship between the software and the blockchain stuff is?
       | E.g., does the software depend on blockchains to operate, or is
       | it just the governance structure for the developers?
        
         | shawa_a_a wrote:
         | This was exactly my thought. The title is 'A local, privacy
         | first Notion alternative', but the site talks about
         | 
         | > can I own my piece of the new internet today?
         | 
         | Which screams 'digital assets'. Why do I need to 'own a piece
         | of the new internet', why can I not just own... a set of notes
         | on my machine?
         | 
         | The section which espouses the goals of the project smell
         | similarly Web3
         | 
         | > We have a chance to end the nation state's monopoly on trust
         | the same way as the printing press ended the church's monopoly
         | on truth.
         | 
         | Again like, I don't know how 'privacy-first Notion alternative'
         | also somehow involves dismantling nation states.
         | 
         | Don't get me wrong, I'd love a free implementation of Notion
         | (and by the UX of this landing page I don't doubt the
         | developers have the resources and skills to do so), but I'd
         | prefer that if this somehow involves digital assets and
         | blockchains that it be front-and-center?
        
       | dzink wrote:
       | The slow messy scrolling experience on the landing page is
       | downright enraging on mobile. Seeing manifestos instead of a demo
       | is also a red flag.
        
       | dreamyfigment wrote:
       | The scrolling banner screams "this is a scam" to me for some
       | reason. And that's not even touching the weirdness of that
       | manifesto.
       | 
       | But, other than that, I hope it exists. Mostly because Notion
       | really needs self-hosted alternatives, especially with "database"
       | items support.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | eternityforest wrote:
         | Obsidian exists, but it's not FOSS.
         | 
         | I signed up.for early access but I'm not too hopeful. There's
         | some blockchain-esque use of words(Making me think it will rely
         | on Ethereum or something) and a lot of obsfuscation, it's
         | impossible to get any clue of how it works without signing up.
        
           | evolve2k wrote:
           | As far as I can tell LogSeq is basically obsidian but open
           | source. https://logseq.com
           | 
           | Is it missing a key feature that obsidian has?
        
       | jer0me wrote:
       | Found the download link: https://download.anytype.io/
       | 
       | Edit: Doesn't work at all on my Mac, it's a blank window
        
         | eternityforest wrote:
         | On Android it just asks you to sign up, and that requires an
         | invitation code.
        
       | antiframe wrote:
       | It's not privacy-first until the source is open.
        
       | rektide wrote:
       | Some very neat semantic-web looking ideas on the screens here.
       | 
       | The word is a huge turn off for a lot people, but that's a pity.
       | There were a lot of problems (a very isolated ivory-tower
       | community high among them), but there's ideas about making data
       | common & open that are very compelling. It's not really data...
       | just a general systems ability to have _things,_ in information
       | _spaces._
       | 
       | I haven't spent much time with Notion, but the data-centric model
       | is interesting. I was really interested a couple months ago to
       | find out Roam uses Datomic under the hood[1][2], that this data-
       | centric model deeply underpins it's capabilities. Amusingly,
       | there was another open-source Notion project that sprung up right
       | around then, AppFlowy[3].
       | 
       | [1] https://www.zsolt.blog/2021/01/Roam-Data-Structure-
       | Query.htm... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29295532 (51
       | points, 6mo ago, 4 comments)
       | 
       | [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29385476
       | 
       | [3] https://github.com/AppFlowy-IO/appflowy
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29384341 (149 points, 6mo
       | ago, 21 comments)
        
       | ParetoOptimal wrote:
       | Why use this over http://logseq.com/?
        
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       (page generated 2022-05-28 23:00 UTC)