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As other's have mentioned, the WebUI is a major no-no. Evernote's strength lies in its Desktop application and very useful clipping service. The fact that Eve

As other's have mentioned, the WebUI is a major no-no. Evernote's strength lies in its Desktop application and very useful clipping service. The fact that Evernote uses its own cloud storage instead of say an encrypted folder in Google Drive/Dropbox etc is a negative of the service. Sync is required but implemented in the most undesirable way in Evernote currently. Paperwork is promising, but seems to have replicated the negative of Evernote, while foregoing the reason why people use Evernote in the first place. So, if you want to Paperwork to take off: 1. Implement it as an offline Chrome App with Dropbox+Google Drive sync. 2. Implement a web clipping+screenshot extension.

Fannon 12y ago
Paperwork doesn't use its own cloud storage. You can host it either locally or at your own server. No problem using encryption, VPN tunneling etc. here. The fact that it's not a true cloud service could be seen as a downside. Your data is only stored at one server without failsave mechanisms. And you're responsible on your own regarding the data.
- mikeryan 12y ago
  Paperwork doesn't use its own cloud storage. You can host it either locally or at your own server. This will really limit the potential user base and really eventual growth and uptake of a service like this. When easily accessible "personal cloud" tools like Dropbox and Drive exist why not make them potential service mechanisms? On an open source service like this it seems you may want to have some sort of cloud abstraction service and let other contributors plug in separate cloud services.
  - gahahaha 12y ago
    Many people (myself included) don't trust Drobox, so being able to handle my data myself is regarded as a plus. (having Condoleezza Rice on the board is just _one_ obvious reason not to trust them)
  - amirmc 12y ago
    Dropbox, Drive, iCloud, etc are not in any way 'personal clouds'. They are very much somebody else's cloud. Proper personal clouds may be on the horizon when you don't have to become a sysadmin to run one. FWIW, I'm working towards this - http://nymote.org/blog/2013/introducing-nymote/ http://nymote.org/blog/2013/introducing-nymote/
laurent123456 12y ago
That makes me think, has anyone tried to build a note taking app based on git? A tricky part for this kind of app is networking and synchronization of notes, and that's all taken care of by git. The "only" thing left would be to implement the mobile and desktop front ends.
- VLM 12y ago
  I've done emacs org mode on git, and it works. I've thankfully never had to do a manual merge, I wonder what org mode thinks of git merge commentary inside the file. I imagine you'd have to drop out of org mode and into text mode to fix the merge. I've also used a wiki as what amounts to little more than a note taking app, and it works. There are a couple wikis that can speak git as a backend store.
- robterrell 12y ago
  Better yet -- CouchDB and PouchDB. You can use PouchDB for the browser side, CouchDB for the server, and Couchbase Mobile for the eventual mobile apps. Pros: offline and online; natural fit for document management; git-like revision and conflict management; simple to set up replication for backup. Cons: it's fallen out of favor; nobody seems to like writing the mapreduce code for searching and views.
  - nolanl 12y ago
    PouchDB dev here. The map/reduce API is definitely a bit cumbersome, which is why we're replacing it: http://nolanlawson.github.io/pouchdb-find/ http://nolanlawson.github.io/pouchdb-find/ :)
- andrewflnr 12y ago
  Yes, me. :) I'm intermittently working on an Android app that syncs to Git. I'm using it for my notes, but it's still pretty rough to share widely.
- amirmc 12y ago
  You might like to take a look at Irmin [1], which seems like it would make it easier to get what you're after. It's also part of a larger stack that will make distributed programming a lot easier when it lands [2]. [1] http://openmirage.org/blog/introducing-irmin http://openmirage.org/blog/introducing-irmin [2] http://nymote.org/blog/2015/brewing-miso-to-serve-nymote/ http://nymote.org/blog/2015/brewing-miso-to-serve-nymote/
balladeer 12y ago
I think the better option would be APIs for desktop app(s), maybe with a stock basic functionality desktop app. Definitely not an "offline" app based on a particular web browser. As a Firefox user I already dislike Gmail Inbox and WhatsApp (web) being Chrome only. The former has said "Chrome only for now" for quite long already.
- drvortex 12y ago
  It is actually a shame that it is based on PHP. If it was based on pure JS, there was hope to make a desktop version easily using node-webkit or something.
ape4 12y ago
Is there an open source and self hosting cloud that apps like this can build on. I know Own Cloud exists but is it app-friendly. This requires a mysql db - yuck.
- hrjet 12y ago
  sandstorm.io
  - ape4 12y ago
    Donno how good it is but they have a cat mascot so thats a start.
    - ape4 12y ago
      That was a joke you mean downvoters.
      - RDeckard 12y ago
        HN doesn't like jokes. It's dry.
        Stratoscope 12y ago
        HN has that reputation, but it isn't entirely true. Some of my highest-voted comments have been pure humor. A few examples, with parent comments included for context: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8690893 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8690893 (86 points, and 24 for the followup comment) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6447007 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6447007 (43 points) Even this silly one-liner got 23 points: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7863205 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7863205 That one won't make sense out of context, so here's the article it refers to: http://www.newstatesman.com/business/2014/06/bizarre-secret-london-s-buried-diggers http://www.newstatesman.com/business/2014/06/bizarre-secret-... My point in sharing these is to give some examples of kinds of humor that have gone over well here. Of course as they say, "Past performance is no guarantee of future results."
rayiner 12y ago
> The fact that Evernote uses its own cloud storage instead of say an encrypted folder in Google Drive/Dropbox etc is a negative of the service. I hate this trend towards supporting only one or another kind of proprietary service.[1] What is wrong with WebDAV? That way, you can use a cloud hosting provider, or self-host. [1] I'm looking at you Scrivener.
- nissehulth 12y ago
  I believe the idea was that the app would simply save data on a local drive that could then be synced with your favorite technology or service.
- freehunter 12y ago
  And another proprietary service ("make it an offline Chrome app"). It's the web, why would I want to be locked to a single vendor?
  - drvortex 12y ago
    It is the path of least resistance to get to a 'Desktop' experience. And please, what are the alternatives? Firefox ? I'm sorry, but Firefox lost relevance a couple of years ago now. Firefox is ethically the best , but it sucks in implementation. Firefox is now the broccoli of the web, stale broccoli at that.
    - freehunter 12y ago
      ActiveX is pretty cool, and gives you a "desktop" experience. You should look into it if you like letting one corporation lock you into their proprietary version of the web.
    - findjashua 12y ago
      a desktop app built with node-webkit would be better than a browser-specific app
      - 12y ago
wpietri 12y ago
Yeah, as NixNote user, I wouldn't mind switching away from Evernote as a back end. But a web-only UI is a blocker for me.
oaf357 12y ago
I have to agree. Evernote's Web Clipping feature is a feature that is very important to me. I would also really appreciate the ability to save my data (by default) some place other than Evernote's cloud.

Fannon 12y ago

Paperwork doesn't use its own cloud storage. You can host it either locally or at your own server. No problem using encryption, VPN tunneling etc. here. The fact that it's not a true cloud service could be seen as a downside. Your data is only stored at one server without failsave mechanisms. And you're responsible on your own regarding the data.

mikeryan 12y ago
Paperwork doesn't use its own cloud storage. You can host it either locally or at your own server. This will really limit the potential user base and really eventual growth and uptake of a service like this. When easily accessible "personal cloud" tools like Dropbox and Drive exist why not make them potential service mechanisms? On an open source service like this it seems you may want to have some sort of cloud abstraction service and let other contributors plug in separate cloud services.
- gahahaha 12y ago
  Many people (myself included) don't trust Drobox, so being able to handle my data myself is regarded as a plus. (having Condoleezza Rice on the board is just _one_ obvious reason not to trust them)
- amirmc 12y ago
  Dropbox, Drive, iCloud, etc are not in any way 'personal clouds'. They are very much somebody else's cloud. Proper personal clouds may be on the horizon when you don't have to become a sysadmin to run one. FWIW, I'm working towards this - http://nymote.org/blog/2013/introducing-nymote/ http://nymote.org/blog/2013/introducing-nymote/

laurent123456 12y ago

That makes me think, has anyone tried to build a note taking app based on git? A tricky part for this kind of app is networking and synchronization of notes, and that's all taken care of by git. The "only" thing left would be to implement the mobile and desktop front ends.

VLM 12y ago
I've done emacs org mode on git, and it works. I've thankfully never had to do a manual merge, I wonder what org mode thinks of git merge commentary inside the file. I imagine you'd have to drop out of org mode and into text mode to fix the merge. I've also used a wiki as what amounts to little more than a note taking app, and it works. There are a couple wikis that can speak git as a backend store.
robterrell 12y ago
Better yet -- CouchDB and PouchDB. You can use PouchDB for the browser side, CouchDB for the server, and Couchbase Mobile for the eventual mobile apps. Pros: offline and online; natural fit for document management; git-like revision and conflict management; simple to set up replication for backup. Cons: it's fallen out of favor; nobody seems to like writing the mapreduce code for searching and views.
- nolanl 12y ago
  PouchDB dev here. The map/reduce API is definitely a bit cumbersome, which is why we're replacing it: http://nolanlawson.github.io/pouchdb-find/ http://nolanlawson.github.io/pouchdb-find/ :)
andrewflnr 12y ago
Yes, me. :) I'm intermittently working on an Android app that syncs to Git. I'm using it for my notes, but it's still pretty rough to share widely.
amirmc 12y ago
You might like to take a look at Irmin [1], which seems like it would make it easier to get what you're after. It's also part of a larger stack that will make distributed programming a lot easier when it lands [2]. [1] http://openmirage.org/blog/introducing-irmin http://openmirage.org/blog/introducing-irmin [2] http://nymote.org/blog/2015/brewing-miso-to-serve-nymote/ http://nymote.org/blog/2015/brewing-miso-to-serve-nymote/

balladeer 12y ago

I think the better option would be APIs for desktop app(s), maybe with a stock basic functionality desktop app. Definitely not an "offline" app based on a particular web browser. As a Firefox user I already dislike Gmail Inbox and WhatsApp (web) being Chrome only. The former has said "Chrome only for now" for quite long already.

drvortex 12y ago
It is actually a shame that it is based on PHP. If it was based on pure JS, there was hope to make a desktop version easily using node-webkit or something.

ape4 12y ago

Is there an open source and self hosting cloud that apps like this can build on. I know Own Cloud exists but is it app-friendly. This requires a mysql db - yuck.

hrjet 12y ago
sandstorm.io
- ape4 12y ago
  Donno how good it is but they have a cat mascot so thats a start.
  - ape4 12y ago
    That was a joke you mean downvoters.
    - RDeckard 12y ago
      HN doesn't like jokes. It's dry.
      - Stratoscope 12y ago
        HN has that reputation, but it isn't entirely true. Some of my highest-voted comments have been pure humor. A few examples, with parent comments included for context: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8690893 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8690893 (86 points, and 24 for the followup comment) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6447007 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6447007 (43 points) Even this silly one-liner got 23 points: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7863205 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7863205 That one won't make sense out of context, so here's the article it refers to: http://www.newstatesman.com/business/2014/06/bizarre-secret-london-s-buried-diggers http://www.newstatesman.com/business/2014/06/bizarre-secret-... My point in sharing these is to give some examples of kinds of humor that have gone over well here. Of course as they say, "Past performance is no guarantee of future results."

rayiner 12y ago

> The fact that Evernote uses its own cloud storage instead of say an encrypted folder in Google Drive/Dropbox etc is a negative of the service. I hate this trend towards supporting only one or another kind of proprietary service.[1] What is wrong with WebDAV? That way, you can use a cloud hosting provider, or self-host. [1] I'm looking at you Scrivener.

nissehulth 12y ago
I believe the idea was that the app would simply save data on a local drive that could then be synced with your favorite technology or service.
freehunter 12y ago
And another proprietary service ("make it an offline Chrome app"). It's the web, why would I want to be locked to a single vendor?
- drvortex 12y ago
  It is the path of least resistance to get to a 'Desktop' experience. And please, what are the alternatives? Firefox ? I'm sorry, but Firefox lost relevance a couple of years ago now. Firefox is ethically the best , but it sucks in implementation. Firefox is now the broccoli of the web, stale broccoli at that.
  - freehunter 12y ago
    ActiveX is pretty cool, and gives you a "desktop" experience. You should look into it if you like letting one corporation lock you into their proprietary version of the web.
  - findjashua 12y ago
    a desktop app built with node-webkit would be better than a browser-specific app
    - 12y ago

wpietri 12y ago

Yeah, as NixNote user, I wouldn't mind switching away from Evernote as a back end. But a web-only UI is a blocker for me.

oaf357 12y ago

I have to agree. Evernote's Web Clipping feature is a feature that is very important to me. I would also really appreciate the ability to save my data (by default) some place other than Evernote's cloud.