I discovered this app just under two weeks ago and I’m quite impressed (I am currently an Obsidian user). The object concept is very convincing, the interface looks modern and appealing, and the ability to embed objects into other documents is something of a game changer.
For testing, I have transferred part of my Obsidian vault into Capacities, but I’m still hesitant to do a complete migration because there is no end-to-end encryption. However, the temptation is certainly very strong!
There are also many other interesting things on their roadmap.
The ideas and concepts of this app are really intriguing. I was ready to go all in a few years back, then they had a massive, cross customer data loss. I’m sure that they’ve worked to fix whatever caused that issue, but data loss without a backup approach (no local copy) is a one strike and you’re out for me.
I’ve been watching this app for over a year now I think. I am very happy with my workflows, but as an app it just looks like it’s ticking so many boxes for me, and once there’s markdown export one of the big crosses will be removed.
(But I am not changing app, I tell myself sternly, because there is nothing wrong with my current set-up!)
I’m still exploring Capacities, which looks like Obsidian 2.0. Two different products by two different companies, but it seems like the Capacities developers looked hard at Obsidian, learned from it, and improved it.
Capacities uses tags and objects instead of folders, which I hated the idea of, but now I think maybe I just haven’t seen tags done well until now.
The Capacities home page has the usual marketing folderol for notetaking and document management software. It’s a “studio for the mind!” (wow!) “Our computers made us think like them!” (Capacities says that’s bad.) “Folders and hierarchies limit our creativity!” (ok sure whatever if you say so) “Break the silo, create a network of thoughts!” (if we break the silo, where would we put the corn?)
What am I missing here? My Spidey Sense goes off whenever companies use a lot of hyperbole and overstate features that seem to be table-stakes for the space or type of application. “Pillars of privacy by design”; how? “Units of thinking”, “ Folders and hierarchies limit our creativity”; really? I get it, they’re trying to sell their app, but c’mon…
I learned that Capacities won’t permit inline modification of file attachments (Microsoft Word documents or image files, for example). You need to download the attachment, edit it offline, then re-upload it as if it were a new attachment.
That’s a hard stop for me. I am no longer considering Capacities.
Kind of touching on what @95omega and @Bmosbacker said, but I find aggressive marketing often makes me not want to buy a product. I think companies, particularly software companies, walk a fine line with marketing and they often forget that. Using Capacities as an example, is their target audience the sort of person who falls for these buzzwords? If so, I’m probably not their intended user, nor are most in this forum. (And what do they do when the next buzzword comes along and it doesn’t match their brand?) If people who like Capacities are having to look past their marketing nonsense, maybe they should be re-thinking their marketing strategy. We can look past some marketing hubris (hello Apple!) because as customers we trust the product, but we can’t do that for everything!
There’s a task manager app that I see adverts for constantly on Instagram. I’m obviously ticking a lot of their target audience boxes. Except their aggressive marketing on Instagram has put me off the product and I’ve assumed it’s all flash and little substance and mentally crossed it off my list. I never see it mentioned anywhere but Instagram. Their marketing has actively worked against them and lost them a potential customer.
Anyway folders are better than tags and don’t silo your thinking and that is a hill I am willing to die on this fine Saturday morning
I suspect this also plays a factor in many people’s resistance to AI at the moment: it is so clearly being over-promised by transparent grifters, and the dangers so clearly being hidden, that it’s difficult to get past the hype to see some actual benefit to decent users, rather than allowing a dodgy corporation to sack half its workforce to give me a worse service, or a lazy, venal, and incompetent writer an opportunity to sell me a book they haven’t really written. Despite the insults of the scammers and the scammed, this is not Luddism, but healthy scepticism…
I’m exaggerating, of course: clearly there are features which could bring some benefit to ordinary users, but goodness, you have to wade through a lot of self-serving mendacious drivel to get at what those benefits actually are, and it’s very off-putting.
This post has been brought to you by “Old” and “Grumpy”.
I can think of another arena of public life where this is rampant, but I won’t name it for fear of sending this thread in a direction inconsistent with the purpose of this forum, but I bet you can guess what I have in mind.
You’re making good points. I just think the Capacities devs aren’t great English writers. I find that a very forgivable price of having access to software from many countries. If they spent more on marketing, they’d probably have better copy on their website and you all would like it more.
They are developers at heart and primarily grow their audience through rapid release of features which is a substance-first approach, whatever you think of the software itself.
I love this app and the way I talk about it sounds like a commercial but it is really well designed and lets me work across platforms (Mac, Linux Mint & Win 11 Pro). I can embed PDFs, audio and YouTube and the toggle/tab to compress info in one place is one of my favorite features (even if I can’t describe it that well). I basically add everything to it module by module (so all the readings, videos, papers, audio, etc) and then I can access it in order. It works the way my brain works (outline).
That being said, LogSeq was my first love in the PKM world and I have lots of apps that I like for different reasons. I had to stop using LogSeq because I made the mistake of setting it up to sync iCloud and my machine couldn’t handle the size of all of my pages. I like Obsidian, etc too. I can use them quickly for different types of work and I don’t have to think of which app to go to.
