d2-docs VS obsidian-releases

You're right, d2-docs will be changed to render all diagrams with Dagre or ELK instead.

The docs existed before D2 was open source and we had open source layout options. Sorry about that.

https://github.com/terrastruct/d2-docs/issues/43

> By the way I've just realised why your github repo does not provide the sources of the diagrams in docs - it would blow your game wide open, once users start asking why they aren't getting the results depicted. And almost no compileable examples, either

Not sure what you mean no compilable examples. Full source of the docs is at https://github.com/terrastruct/d2-docs including all the examples. The first example in the Github repo also had a line "Rendered with the TALA layout engine" so the source was upfront.

> Will you please stop lying? I am not "mad" because something isn't free, but because you're misrepresenting the nature of your D2 language. It is not something that you're making available to benefit community, but a thinly disguised marketing ploy.

We're running a company, we're absolutely interested in making money.

But open sourcing D2 doesn't just help us with user acquisition, it certainly also helps the community in adding another open source alternative in the text to diagram market. And it's good quality code. If we go under, someone else can pickup the torch and fork D2.

And it's incorrect to say that the free engines are not as good. They absolutely are suitable alternatives and do beat TALA in many instances. It's not in our interest to hide the best parts of D2, or else no one would use it. I'd even go as far to say TALA will never be as good as them in many instances, especially when the structure is hierarchical. But that's ok, they all use different algorithms and that's what makes them good in different instances. TALA is specifically for software diagrams, in instances such as if you have many nested containers.

If you can quote a specific piece of text on our GitHub or website, we will change it to make it more clear that D2 is fully open source and TALA is just an optional optimization.

The closest editor that follows our first principle is Obsidian editor:

The solution was already installed on both my computer and my phone: Obsidian.

> why does open source need to "win"

Open source does not need to win.

But your ability to be in control of your computer needs to be preserved. A proprietary fridge cannot control your diet, while a proprietary App Store can control what software you install on YOUR phone (unless you live in EU, hello DMA!). The tail wags the dog, so to speak. Proprietary software has also been shown to break user workflows or remove functions in an update while leaving users with no choice whatsoever.

One alternative to having open source win is to ensure software must come with a robust warranty and other assurances you expect from the things you buy. EU's CRA will make software vulnerabilities in WiFi routers covered by warranty, for example.

You can also ensure robust and interoperable data storage options. For example, https://obsidian.md/ stores all notes in Markdown, not holding the data hostage in case users will not like how future versions will work. GDPR actually has a provision for data portability (Art. 20), but it does not seem to have a requisite effect on the industry yet.

And until the above issues are solved, open source remains the best way to ensure that a software tail cannot wag your computer dog.

[2] https://obsidian.md/

So I've had my fair share of personal websites and blogs. I have built them on stacks ranging from the most basic HTML and CSS, to hosted frameworks like Wordpress and Laravel, to the more modern single page applications built in Vue and React. For a simple content blog I think you can't go wrong with a Static Site Generator though. These days I am almost exclusively writing everything in Obsidian. Which is great because its all in standard markdown format. This allows for a really neat and easy content publishing workflow.

Consider making an Obsidian[^1] plugin, or writing to Obsidian-compatible Markdown files :)

[^1]: https://obsidian.md/

Obsidian is a writing application created to allow for offline / private note taking in markdown format, in an interface that looks a lot like our regular programming IDE. It is very flexible, with a good collection of community plugins that you can use to customize Obsidian to your heart contents.

Obsidian support via our Obsidian Plugin