Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian

Re:Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian by embedding-shape on Monday May 18, 2026 @01:17PM (#48182476)

> If they open sourced it, there would be immediate competition. Anyone could fork it and circumvent/compete with any premium features they might want to add to it in the future.

Would it? Something like Zulip seems like a way better target in that case, but Zulip seems to manage just fine with open-source code and running their own platform people can pay for.

Not saying it is easy nor not hard, I'm just saying I don't agree with "either you do open source, or you go broke" because history shows us there are more choices than that.

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Re:Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian by auggierose on Monday May 18, 2026 @06:41PM (#48186802)

Zulip manages so well that their top-people just left Zulip and joined Anthropic.

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Re:Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian by embedding-shape on Monday May 18, 2026 @06:59PM (#48187022)

Zulip got a foundation at the same time, literally the best that could have happen to the FOSS parts of it, basically a dream come true for the people relying on it to continue being FOSS.

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Re:Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian by auggierose on Monday May 18, 2026 @07:12PM (#48187146)

Let's see in a few years how the development of Zulip has progressed by then. It is not a foundation like Zig, where the main guy is actively working on it. It is the best that could have happened, except of course the top people staying on.

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