hutchmcnuggetJul 12, 2023

Obsidian for Writing Manuals

https://lemmy.world/post/1390409

Obsidian for Writing Manuals - LemmyWorld

Is Obsidian a good tool to use for writing technical manuals? I would like to write an Operation Manual for municipality’s water system. There will be embedded screenshots and some links to other sections of the document. Ideally we could “publish” to offline html. The customer would also like a printed manual. If Obsidian is no good, I would love suggestions on software you have used to write short manuals with pictures, preferably not Word.

Show threadgelberhutJul 12, 2023

Check if makrdown formatting functionality is enough for you or not - it is pretty limited.

Do not forget to purchase proper obsidian license - your usecase is not covered by a free version.

Show threadeffingjoeJul 12, 2023

Do not forget to purchase proper obsidian license - your usecase is not covered by a free version.

Can you elaborate on this? Are you referencing their "Publish" feature?

Show threadgelberhutJul 12, 2023

No. I mean the following: “Commercial Use Licenses are required whenever Obsidian is being used for work for a business with two or more personnel. Sole proprietorships or other one-person organizations do not require a Commercial Use License. Work for educational purposes does not require a Commercial Use License.

Commercial Use Licenses must be purchased on an annual and per user basis. Commercial users must purchase at least as many licenses as the number of people who will be using Obsidian.

You may use Obsidian commercially for free for 14 days to evaluate the app before purchase.”

see: obsidian.md/license

License Overview - Obsidian

A simplified summary of our licenses and terms. Obsidian is free for personal and non-profit use.

Obsidian
Show threadeffingjoeJul 12, 2023
Hm. I keep notes in Obsidian, including work notes. I wonder if that violates the license. I might abandon Obsidian over this.
Show threadgelberhutJul 12, 2023

including work notes This requires a commercial license. If your work does not meet few exceptions mentioned in the text I quoted above.

Show threadeffingjoeJul 12, 2023
It's bad news for Obsidian, not me. There's a million note taking applications out there.
Show threadgelberhutJul 12, 2023
This depends on what do you need form a note taking app. But if your needs are covered by many - great you have a big list to choose from.
Show threadeffingjoeJul 12, 2023
Man, now I have to go from championing Obsidian to warning people away from it. That sucks.
Show threadlaurelinaeJul 13, 2023

Man, now I have to go from championing Obsidian to warning people away from it. That sucks.

What are you talking about?! How is commercial licensing of an indie product something to warn people about? Maybe start by warning people of Microsoft, Adobe, Oracle, SAP, because their licensing models are horrendously exploitive.

You are just frustrated that your entitlement for a free product was not satisfied. Your reaction to vent against Obsidian and by that its Dev Team is bizarre.

Show threadKyoyeou (Ki jəʊ juː)
You’re telling me people prefer paying 55$/month for Adobe that doesn’t care about you and will with time get worst and not pay 50$/year for a indie company that has constant growth adding more and more features and giving you a better product!
Jul 13, 2023 at 9:42amWeb