Thoughts on Omnivore shutting down (1/2)

Many people enjoyed Omnivore because it was free, but being free was part of its demise.

As an independent app maker, you must have a way to generate revenue or your product will die. As a user you must demand a way to pay makers for the products you love. See my essay: "Quality software deserves your hard‑earned cash"
https://stephango.com/quality-software

I didn't personally use Omnivore, but it seems like many Obsidian users loved it. Now the app is being shut down with only a couple of weeks to export your data.

While this is abrupt, it isn't surprising. When a startup runs out of resources, the end is always more sudden than you expect. The dream of making it work persists until the very last moment.

making /obsidian • writing stephango.com

A subset of people will find refuge in Omnivore's open source code, but the vast majority of users are not technical enough to compile/host/run a service like this.

In the end I keep coming back to the ephemerality of software. We have to appreciate that apps like Omnivore are being attempted. The apps that become self-sustaining will last longer than those that don't, but none will last forever. (2/2)