I could not disagree more. I'm very pleased that things such as markdown exist and are being widely used. All of the tools used by 'other professions' as you say, are in some nonsense proprietary format that works in their application and theirs alone. Even something as widespread as .docx is still a third-class citizen on other applications, due to Microsoft's monopoly on it.
Is Markdown perfect? No. I find it rather frustrating that there isn't a single definitive flavor, but it's easy to learn, easy to read and render, and can be used as a tool in just about anything. You can keep your 'real programs'.
I really don’t understand what they think we’re missing in markdown, as if most of us don’t have plenty of experience with “better “ document software. They also don’t actually explain what features or tools make that’s software “better.” Most people I know in these trades are using Google or Office suites simply because that’s what they’re the most familiar with.
I’ve been through so many formats and styles of capturing information and always come back to markdown. If OP has specific critiques of what we’re missing out on, I’d love to hear them. Mostly it was just vague ranting about “devs love old tech.”
Markdown mixes formatting and content (in a lossy way - did the author mean that asterisk as a format character or as part of their text? Who knows). It doesn’t support spans or ranges for mixing languages. It has hard-to-remember syntax, especially around links - Gruber makes mistakes with it all the time. And it doesn’t easily support the sort of powerful visual editing tools like you might have seen on a 1980s Mac. And worst of all, developers think it’s “good enough” and ship it to non-developer users instead of making them actually powerful tools for managing text.
1. Mixing formatting and content is the point. Maybe it’s not for you, but describing its main feature as a problem doesn’t make sense.
2. There are maybe 5-10 syntax elements to get up and running with Markdown. Your average excel user has probably committed far more keyboard shortcuts to memory.
3. Most markdown users are fine with importing an image from another app if “powerful visual editing tools” (which still haven’t been defined) are needed. Not to mention extra features in this area provided by Markdown editors like Obsidian.
4. Again, I still don’t know what you consider to be an “actual powerful tool” for managing text. Does your definition begin and end at WYSIWYG?
1. Right, but unless you want a circular argument, the “better” you are missing is the ability to separate the two. You should be able to type a note featuring all the characters on the keyboard without unexpected side-effects, this doesn’t seem like a lot to ask.
2. And yet the inventor of the thing repeatedly gets it wrong.
3. Visual editing here meaning more WYSIWYG than the inclusion of images, but it raises a good point - the bounds of what we consider a document is rapidly outstripping what markdown can comfortably capture. Tools like Notion are blurring the line between what used to be thought of as “text” and “embed” and are making great user experiences by doing so.
4. Honestly, in this context (document editing) I think of ClarisWorks as a more powerful tool than any Markdown editor I’ve ever seen.
A ClarisWorks with Obsidian-like features would be a rocket ship for the mind. Limiting Obsidian to Markdown is like using diesel to fuel the rocket.
Is Markdown perfect? No. I find it rather frustrating that there isn't a single definitive flavor, but it's easy to learn, easy to read and render, and can be used as a tool in just about anything. You can keep your 'real programs'.