[wiether]

Obsidian is plain Markdown and JSON files.

There can't be a will from the devs to make it hard to sync.

It's just that unlike git or Dropbox or whatever, that are just generic "syncing" tools, Obsidian Sync has been built to provide the best experience with Obsidian.

[FloatArtifact]

I'm talking more about the plugin architecture not about the file format or third-party applications. sync plugins seems to be pretty limited compared to what's offered for a subscription.

[febed]

I’ve been using Obsidian with Dropbox sync for years. What’s so special about the Obsidian sync?

[wiether]

Obsidian with Dropbox can work on an iOS device?

With Obsidian Sync you manage everything directly in Obsidian: sync status, activity, history, selective sync...

And "it just works" across platform, without having to think about/set something else up.

[4diii]

someone reverse engineered obsidian sync a couple years ago, but obsidian ended up “patching” it. Saw some recent discussion on here about it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44768641

[wiether]

Seems fair to me.

Obsidian Sync has always been presented as a paid add-on, here to provide income for the company building Obsidian and giving it for free.

If they provided a direct BYOS(ync/erver) mechanism, less people would pay for the add-on, which is their source of income.

Instead, they let you use your own sync mechanism by only relying on text files.

I understand why some people could get upset about this, but they've always been transparent :

- no proprietary format ; can migrate at anytime without effort

- free but closed-sourced software

- add-ons for income