This is an extremely good point that I don't see mentioned often enough, and is the primary reason I have not settled on Markdown for my notes. Markdown is a pretty thin format, and for anything sophisticated you have to have some kind of extension, and that immediately locks you into that particular tool, even if that tool is open source. For what it's worth, I ended up using TiddlyWiki because it's completely open source and self-contained. And so it doesn't require the upgrade treadmill that other software does. But I'm just as locked-in to TiddlyWiki as other users are to Obsidian since its syntax is unique.
But I'm reasoning from first principles. Is there anyone out there that has used Obsidian extensively with plugins and has successfully migrated to any other tool?
The main reason I don't vocally object to Obsidian is that it's a bootstrapped company, they're passionate about their product, and they don't have a need for ultra-rapid growth because they haven't taken any venture capital funding. They seem like good people with the right incentives.
I get what you're saying though I'm not sure I fully agree that it truly "locks you in" - principally because the plugins are, unlike Obsidian, source readable JS files.
Meaning worst case scenario, you could just adapt these plugins to a different ecosystem.
Markdown transformers/parsers are relatively easy to write. Case in point is I have a custom obsidian plugin that converts a markdown note (related attachments) into a HTML ready for a static site generator.
I will agree this is likely beyond the "ken" of your average user though.
But I guess it really depends on the plugins you use. On a quick glance I have Admonition, Another Quick Switcher, and Mousewheel Image Zoom installed. Most of these are "renderers" rather than extending the regular markdown format.
Yeah, their approach to the business is great; I find it very inspiring and hope to do something similar with my own product if it’s financially feasible.
But I'm reasoning from first principles. Is there anyone out there that has used Obsidian extensively with plugins and has successfully migrated to any other tool?
The main reason I don't vocally object to Obsidian is that it's a bootstrapped company, they're passionate about their product, and they don't have a need for ultra-rapid growth because they haven't taken any venture capital funding. They seem like good people with the right incentives.