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Agreed. I don't know for sure what operating system or device I'll be using in 20 years, but I know it'll be able to read and edit text files. I once used MS On

Agreed. I don't know for sure what operating system or device I'll be using in 20 years, but I know it'll be able to read and edit text files. I once used MS OneNote and it's great, but once you leave Windows you basically have to throw it all away, and so in the long run I just wasn't comfortable raising the cost of switching more with every note I created. And of course interacting with those files using the vast ecosystem of countless simple commandline tools and using the same efficient text editor to edit almost all of my documents makes the whole thing a much better experience than all alternatives - at least when text is viable; imho diagrams etc. are still too cumbersome compared to a quick free-hand sketch.

kickopotomus 7y ago
Hmm now that you mention it, does anyone know of a utility that is able to take an image of a hand drawn diagram and convert it to something like dot or C4?
Polylactic_acid 7y ago
>but I know it'll be able to read and edit text files. Unless Apple and Microsoft decide that the ability to view and manage files directly is too confusing and dangerous for users and removes your ability to have portable raw text files. And then all the HN users rejoice about how much simpler life has become when they let tech companies make choices for them and how files were never that good anyway.
- alpaca128 7y ago
  Many people need to interact with files directly due to their job(whether it's development, system administration, video editing, ...), and neither MS nor Apple will ignore that market.
  - JdeBP 7y ago
    The irony here is you both talking about "Microsoft and Apple" as if the famous difference in their text file structures, newline conventions, was not there, and that we lived in an alternative reality where there were "portable raw text files" enabled by Microsoft and Apple.

kickopotomus 7y ago

Hmm now that you mention it, does anyone know of a utility that is able to take an image of a hand drawn diagram and convert it to something like dot or C4?

Polylactic_acid 7y ago

>but I know it'll be able to read and edit text files. Unless Apple and Microsoft decide that the ability to view and manage files directly is too confusing and dangerous for users and removes your ability to have portable raw text files. And then all the HN users rejoice about how much simpler life has become when they let tech companies make choices for them and how files were never that good anyway.

alpaca128 7y ago
Many people need to interact with files directly due to their job(whether it's development, system administration, video editing, ...), and neither MS nor Apple will ignore that market.
- JdeBP 7y ago
  The irony here is you both talking about "Microsoft and Apple" as if the famous difference in their text file structures, newline conventions, was not there, and that we lived in an alternative reality where there were "portable raw text files" enabled by Microsoft and Apple.