No fancy software for you! gabz.micro.blog
@Gaby I kind of agree on fancy software and face exactly the same issues. I could work with Omnifocus via web access until my employer locked down websockets.
I think it’s the quality of ‘Apple’ third party software I miss on Windows.
@Gaby no chance of having the ipad with a keyboard open close to the windows computer? that is what I would try doing if I had to use windows at work.
@Gaby My MacBook travels with me to work everyday. I usually find reasons, from updating Drafts or Tot notes, to feed reading, to writing on breaks. I send a lot of emails to myself, simply because I like the Mac environment better, given my workflows.
@skoobz I could try something like that but it’d be just like having my iPad next to me. It is easier to do a few key stokes, get a “nice” quick entry window and enter things than, moving to the side and type things on another keyboard
@Gaby I can relate to everything you are saying here as I spend all of my working day using a Windows machine. I do have a iPad near by most of the time that if I want a fancy app that I can’t use on my work computer I can use the iPad. To your point on Obsidian I will say I was nervous about that at first but now I am all in and drinking the kool-aid. It is one of the few apps that I can install locally on my work computer and then I have it sycn to my iPad. Works great and if you forget about the whole knowledge part of it and just use it to store notes it works great as it is just files on your machine. Check out the post @jason has on this.
@vincent yes, it can be good to have a web version. Personally I prefer using native apps. I think mastodon is a very good example, it a definition of a protocol and a way of using that protocol. There is a least one web app that works and it’s pretty good, but there are numerous clients which, in my opinion, provides a better user experience.
@vincent I’ve got a different, unpopular, view on this 😋. I want applications that are optimal on that specific platform, I see no reason to make to try to make apps the same no matter what platform it runs on. I want to see the very best app for my laptop, for my desktop, for my phone, for my browser, etc. This doesn’t mean that they should be the same.
As I said: unpopular opinion.
@Gaby Fully agree with that. Mac-assed apps (or iPad-ass apps?) have a good feel for things like this.
@vincent yeah, to me the web version of most services is the last option when everything else fail (there are a few exceptions where the web version is the main version, two examples are Flickr and SmugMug). Unfortunately, I think we will see simplified versions which works everywhere but doesn’t really feel good anywhere. But I’m old and cranky (everything was better when I was young) so I might be completely wrong.
@Gaby I was on active duty the year I had to write my Master’s thesis and was this same predicament of Apple-Windows siloes. Other than an early Simplenote (love that app) and OmniFocus (ver. 1), both to capture notes throughout the day, I eventually accepted that they were two different environs. So while I leaned all in on the Mac for personal and academic stuff, I ended up just using a Moleskin and Merlin Mann’s Hipster PDA to pair with my work PC through the day. It was clumsy at times, but it got the job done.
That’s a long way of say, I feel ya bro. 🤙🏽
@Gaby this doesn’t mean fancy stuff isn’t for you, it’s just the age old problem– cross platform, native software is extremely difficult to do. That’s why so much is on the web– the browser is basically the cross platform run time. And in the world of software you seem to like, it aligns a lot more with what the Apple developer ecosystem prioritizes than Windows. Still a bummer.
@Gaby I have the same situation as you. Mac as primary personal use but I’ve also got a windows laptop (that I game and work on) and a Linux tower. Apps that play nice on these three are a real treat. Just wanted to mention that there’s a plug-in for obsidian called Longform that offers focused project structure similar to Ulysses, and if you’re not sure about obsidian there’s another great note taking app called Zettlr which I also really rate.
@herself but I’ve got to say that for me, obsidian has been a game changer. I sync it to GitHub and access it from everywhere. I track and manage writing projects, logs, kindle highlights, notes in zettelkasten form, research, and it also serves as a personal wiki. I have another vault for tabletop role playing, and yet another for work related things. For me it’s a perfect bit of software. The only thing I don’t use it for is the actual manuscript writing (I dither between scrivener and Ulysses for that. If scrivener had better a better markdown interface I’d be there, whole hog)…
@herself i am so with you on this having used all the referenced apps. Currently it’s Obsidian and Ulysses. I love Drafts too but Obsidian tagging and mapping of relationships wins out there.
@herself I purchased iA Writer for windows, and installed iCloud for windows and can sync between my computer an a apple devices, and it’s a one time purchase 😁
@mbkriegh interesting! I also have Ulysses and I’m finding more and more it feels a bit redundant with my obsidian set up. I still like to use scrivener for its manuscript output but to be honest that’s all I seem to use it for these days.
@herself I use Ulysses for long form posts to Micro.blog. I like that there is a direct conduit and that these posts can be updated if you need to fix something. I haven’t seen that possibility in Obsidian but would love to know if it exists. I used Scrivner in the past but don’t have a use case for it presently.
@mbkriegh interesting! I haven’t been doing much long form (non fiction at least) writing for quite a while but can imagine Ulysses would be great for that.
@herself when I say long form I am talking 1,000 to 1,500 words. It works beautifully with M.b giving one the ability to make after posting changes and update. If I were to get into more extensive writing it might be time to move to Scrivener.
@mbkriegh I find Ulysses is fine (for me) for things that have a relatively simple structure, or that have a few sheets to the project. But as soon as I want to add notes and nest things, I find myself reaching for scrivener… but it’s so interesting seeing how people use things for very specific situations!