OPEN SOURCE alternatives to the MOST POPULAR productivity apps!

Summary

The video recommends various open source alternatives to popular proprietary apps like Obsidian, Notion, Slack, Trello, Adobe Acrobat, VS Code, and more. It highlights free and open source tools like Logseq, App Flowy, Anytype, Mattermost, and Focalboard that provide similar core functionality and features. The host also suggests Thunderbird for email, Nextcloud for cloud storage and collaboration, and Tuxedo Computers for Linux laptops. The goal is to raise awareness of ethical and privacy-focused software options to replace products that lack transparency or collect user data.

Takeaways

• 😀 The video discusses open source alternatives to popular proprietary software like Obsidian, Notion, Slack, etc.
• 📝 Logsack is an open source alternative to Obsidian that offers similar features like linking notes, knowledge graph, plugins, etc.
• 📱 App flowy and Anytype are open source alternatives to Notion that offer some similar functionality, but aren't as feature rich yet.
• 💬 Mattermost is an open source self-hostable alternative to Slack or Microsoft Teams for team chat and collaboration.
• 📋 Focalboard is an open source alternative to Trello for creating kanban boards to organize projects and tasks.
• 🖥 VS Codium provides the open source parts of Visual Studio Code in a non-tracking format with the same plugins and interface.
• 🔐 Nextcloud offers open source self-hosted alternatives to things like Office 365 with file storage, collaboration tools, chat, video calls etc.
• ✉️ Thunderbird is a good open source alternative to Outlook for email with support for calendars, tasks etc.
• 💻 Tuxedo Computers sells Linux laptops and PCs with hardware specifically picked to ensure Linux compatibility.
• 👍 The presenter encourages viewers to share other good open source alternatives in the comments.

Q & A

What open source alternative to Obsidian does the speaker recommend?

The speaker recommends Logseq as an open source alternative to Obsidian. Logseq offers similar features like linking notes, plugins, mobile apps, and knowledge graphs.

What open source app is recommended as an alternative to Notion?

The speaker recommends App Flowy or Anytype as open source alternatives to Notion for creating linked notes, boards, tables and more.

What open source team chat app is suggested as an alternative to Slack or Microsoft Teams?

The speaker suggests Mattermost as an open source self-hosted alternative to Slack or Microsoft Teams, with features like channels, chat, file sharing and more.

What open source project is recommended for replacing Trello boards?

The speaker recommends Focalboard as an open source alternative to Trello for creating customizable boards, lists, calendars and more.

What PDF editor is suggested for editing existing PDFs?

The speaker recommends first trying to edit the original document if possible rather than the PDF, as PDF is not intended as an editable format. For basic PDF editing, Inkscape or LibreOffice Draw can be tried.

What open source code editor is recommended as an alternative to Visual Studio Code?

VSCodium is suggested as an open source alternative to Visual Studio Code, without the telemetry or proprietary components.

What is recommended for replacing proprietary collaboration suites like Office 365?

Nextcloud is recommended as an open source replacement for collaboration tools like Office 365, offering file storage, collaboration, communication tools and more.

What email client does the speaker currently use and recommend?

The speaker currently uses and recommends Thunderbird as their email client of choice after its recent major update and redesign.

Where does the speaker recommend buying Linux laptops from?

The speaker recommends buying Linux laptops from Tuxedo Computers, which sells devices preinstalled with Linux and hardware tested to work well with it.

What sponsorship does the video have?

The video is sponsored by Thunderbird and Tuxedo Computers.

Outlines

00:00

😀 Open Source Alternatives to Popular Apps

The first paragraph introduces the topic of recommending open source alternatives to popular proprietary apps like Obsidian, Notion, Microsoft Teams, Slack, etc. It mentions the sponsor Thunderbird and gives background about it.

05:02

👨‍💻 Logsack - Open Source Alternative to Obsidian

The second paragraph discusses Logsack, an open source alternative to the note-taking app Obsidian that offers similar features like linking notes, plugins, themes, Knowledge Graph, queries, etc. It provides details on the capabilities and limitations of Logsack.

10:03

😊 App Flowy and Anytype - Open Source Alternatives to Notion

The third paragraph looks at App Flowy and Anytype as open source options instead of Notion for notes, boards, wikis, etc. It compares their capabilities, syncing methods, interface complexity and more.

15:10

👥 Mattermost - Open Source Alternative to Slack and Microsoft Teams

The fourth paragraph suggests using the open source Mattermost instead of Slack or Microsoft Teams for team chat/collaboration. It outlines features like channels, threads, screen sharing, integrations, etc. but lacks video calls.

📋 Focalboard - Open Source Alternative to Trello

The fifth paragraph recommends Focalboard as a full open source replacement for Trello boards for projects, planning, roadmaps, etc. It allows real-time collaboration, templates, backups, sharing, but lacks mobile apps and some Trello integrations.

🖥️ VSCodium - Open Source Alternative to Visual Studio Code

The sixth paragraph suggests using VSCodium, a build of VS Code without tracking/telemetry, as an alternative. It is compatible with most VS Code extensions/plugins and has the exact same interface and features but with an open source license.

☁️ Nextcloud and 📧 Thunderbird - Open Source Recommendations

The seventh paragraph briefly recommends Nextcloud for file sharing/collaboration and Thunderbird for email, highlighting some key features. It serves more as a transition to the sponsor/outro section.

Keywords

💡open source

Open source refers to software that allows users to freely access, modify, and share its source code. The video advocates using open source alternatives to popular proprietary (closed source) apps like Obsidian, Notion, Slack, etc. It argues open source apps provide more transparency, customization, and avoid vendor lock-in.

💡logsack

Logsack is an open source alternative to the note-taking app Obsidian mentioned in the video. It offers similar core functionality like linking notes, Knowledge Graph, plugins, markdown support, etc. The host argues it can cover most use cases of Obsidian.

💡app flowy

App flowy is an open source alternative to Notion that allows creating connected pages and boards. The video states it offers simpler workflows than Notion but lacks some more complex templates and features offered by Notion.

💡anytype

Anytype is another open source alternative to Notion mentioned, which already supports more complex workflows than app flowy. It offers encryption, peer-to-peer sync, and advanced page types.

💡mattermost

Mattermost is promoted as an open source alternative to Slack or Microsoft Teams. It offers similar chat, audio calls, screen sharing capabilities but lacks video calling, which would need to be added through another integration.

💡focalboard

Focalboard is introduced as an open source replacement for Trello boards for task and project management. It offers real-time collaboration but lacks some features like mobile apps, integrations, etc. offered by Trello.

💡MIT license

The MIT license is mentioned regarding Visual Studio Code editor. It is an open source license allowing reuse of software but Microsoft's binary release of VS Code includes proprietary components.

💡VSCodium

VSCodium is promoted as the open source alternative to Visual Studio Code editor. It builds on the open source components of VS Code by removing telemetry, tracking, proprietary elements allowing more user control.

💡Nextcloud

Nextcloud is highlighted as an open source alternative to services like Office365 or Gsuite. It offers file storage, collaboration tools, communication, and can integrate open source office suites.

💡Thunderbird

Thunderbird is also promoted as a featured open source alternative to Outlook for managing email, calendars, tasks etc. Its recent redesign is highly praised by the host.

Highlights

Logsack is a free, open source alternative to Obsidian that offers similar features like linking notes, plugins, mobile apps, and knowledge graphs.

App flowy is an open source alternative to Notion that lets you create interconnected pages and boards, but doesn't have as many templates or mobile apps yet.

Anytype is another open source Notion alternative that has more functionality than App flowy, including encryption and mobile apps.

Mattermost is a fully open source, self-hostable alternative to Slack or Microsoft Teams with messaging, audio calls, screen sharing, and integrations.

Focalboard is an open source Trello alternative for creating boards to organize projects and content, with real-time collaboration features.

VS Kod is a version of VS Code that removes tracking, telemetry, and proprietary components while maintaining compatibility.

Nextcloud provides open source alternatives for Office 365 and G Suite with file storage, collaboration tools, chat, video calls, and more.

Thunderbird is a full-featured, open source email client that also handles calendars and tasks, with a vastly improved new interface.

Tuxedo Computers sells Linux laptops and PCs with components specifically chosen for Linux compatibility.

Logsack is a complete replacement for Obsidian, but migrating note vaults may take some time.

App flowy is simpler to start with than Anytype, but lacks some key features.

Focalboard lacks some Trello features like mobile apps and integrations.

VS Kod lacks some Microsoft-specific extensions but has same plugins and interface.

Thunderbird sponsor, but also my daily email client with great new redesign.

Buy Linux devices from Tuxedo instead of hoping Linux runs well on Windows hardware.

Transcripts

replace photoshop with or

Microsoft's office with LibreOffice we

have all heard or in some cases said

these words and they are good

recommendations but they are a bit

overplayed but what about a lot of other

very popular proprietary apps like

obsidian notion Microsoft teams or slack

acrobat editor vs code Trello and more

well I do have some good open source

Alternatives that I want to recommend in

this video and if you have other

Alternatives don't hesitate to share

them down in the comment in the comment

section below so everyone can benefit

and speaking of Open Source tools how

about our sponsor this video is

sponsored by Thunderbird most of you

probably know about it but for those who

don't it's an all-in-one Suite that

handles email calendar contacts tasks

RSS feeds and chats Thunderbird recently

received a giant update with a full

redesign of the app that makes it easier

than ever to set up your accounts and to

be productive the interface is very

customizable with multiple choices for

interface density view modes panels and

the ability to place any button you need

in the top bar after this update

Thunderbird is now my email and calendar

client of choice also it's fully open

source it's free of charge and it's

available for any Linux distribution

Windows and Mac OS so whether you used

Thunderbird in the past or not click the

link in the description below and give

the new release a try you will not

regret it so one app that everyone

talked about for a while is Obsidian and

it's great it offers the ability to link

notes together bi-directionally so links

go both ways it uses markdown and plain

text to store your notes it has a

plug-in ecosystem and the visual

Knowledge Graph that lets you explore

topics and the relationships between

your notes is awesome but it's

proprietary so if you prefer your apps

to be free software then let's look at

logsack this one is published under the

new age GPL and it does everything

obsidian does it takes notes as markdown

files it has more than 150 plugins and a

bunch of themes it has mobile apps it's

private and it does have the same

linking features and Knowledge Graph it

even lets you create queries to generate

tables with all the information you need

based on the links and the data you

entered in your notes what this means is

that like obsidian it can be used for

simple note-taking or for Ultra evolved

workflows research projects and

knowledge bases something that if you're

like me you always wanted to do but

never took the time or never really

actually had a use for now logsack even

offers their own thinking solution if

you want that although since notes are

stored as plain text files you can also

just sync them using whatever cloud

storage solution you prefer they also

have a new whiteboard feature to let you

place your thoughts on a canvas and

organize things before writing a fully

detailed note it's available for Linux

as an app image and for Mac OS Windows

IOS and Android and of course logsack

isn't a complete drop-in replacement for

obsidian as some of their features don't

work in the same way and obsidian still

has more plugins so some use cases

probably won't be covered entirely but I

can confidently say that most obsidian

users should be able to move to logsack

without too much trouble well apart from

actually migrating your obsidian Vault

of nodes to logsack which might take a

little bit of time another really

powerful app is notion in a way it sort

of feels the same role as obsidian but

in a more visual way you can create

notes to-do lists Stables boards wikis

and anything in between with a lot of

templates and while it's free of charge

it's proprietary and doesn't have an

official Linux version now granted it's

a web app so you can always use it in

your web browser but again if you're

like me using an app in a web browser

just doesn't cut it it just doesn't feel

right the closest thing you can find in

the open source world will be either app

flowy or any type app flowy is really

close but it's not as feature complete

just yet it's open source it's available

for Linux from Flat Hub you can create

your own structure with pages and sub

pages and you have a few page types like

calendars boards tables or documents you

can also mix these types on the same

page like having board with cards that

you can also present in a table or on a

calendar but you won't get as many

templates as what notion offers your

text notes can have a lot of formatting

with headers images checkboxes lists

quotes code blocks and equations tables

can use a large variety of column types

like dates selectors URLs check boxes

and more and Boards handle statuses

dates and all the properties you can add

in a table as well it also lets you use

open AI if you want to write drafts that

you can edit later yay more AI stuff so

cool

but app flowy also doesn't have mobile

apps yet they're being worked on and it

doesn't quite let you build wikis

although you can link page with one

another if you want if you want a more

full featured app there's any type

instead it's also open source and it has

a Linux client and mobile apps but the

interface is a bit more involved and

less clear to start with than app

flowing they have a very solid road map

for what's coming in 2024 as well and it

already supports everything that app

flowy does and a bit more now app flowy

lets you work completely locally without

an account and doesn't have native sync

capabilities while any type lets you

work offline or sync online using

encrypted peer-to-peer syncing basically

if you use notion for very simple single

type pages that app flowy is probably

good enough and simple enough if you use

notion in very involved ways then any

type is probably going to to work better

for you also their website uses the old

Apple font which for some old Nerd Like

Me is actually pretty fun not that it

has any bearing on the quality of the

app itself anyways now for this one you

might not have as much control over

because generally a company or a project

will impose slack or Microsoft teams on

you and you can't really change that but

if you have all the power to make the

decisions then you might want to take a

look at matter most it's a fully open

source slack slash Microsoft teams

alternative that you can self-host

easily using Docker or any other method

you prefer it lets you create channels

and chat with side threads it has file

sharing screen sharing and audio calls

it can be integrated with a bunch of

developer tools to automate things you

can format messages with markdown or

code Snippets and all messages can be

archived with full history search if you

don't want to self-host they also have

plans you can pay for as well with added

professional support and a few more

advanced Enterprise features the only

thing it lacks really is video calls you

will have to plug something else in like

jitsi or big blue button but there are

Integrations available to make that

transition completely seamless while you

use matter most

now if all you need to organize yourself

or your project is a board you might

choose Trello and this one is pretty

easy to replace you can just use focal

board you can either self-host it if you

want to let multiple people access the

same boards or you can just use it as a

personal app with a Mac OS windows and

Linux application focalboard has plenty

of templates for projects for Content

planning for road maps for meetings and

more and it supports real-time

collaboration with comments on cards

mentions and permissions it is fully

open source of course and you can

present things as boards lists calendars

or galleries it lets you create an

unlimited number of boards for free you

can have your own custom attributes in

each board it supports backup And

archiving and file sharing in cards as

well so you could theoretically use it

as a replacement for notion as well if

you use notion with boards and tables

mostly but but I personally always saw

it more as a Trello replacement focal

boards does lack a few things compared

to Trello notably mobile apps

Integrations with other services and

apps and it also has less templates but

if you don't mind creating your own

boards from scratch and you don't care

about Integrations and mobile focalboard

is probably the best thing out there

apart from the fact that I'm probably

pronouncing this name wrong all the time

and it sounds like something else

entirely but I also don't know how to

say it any other way now if you need to

create and edit PDF documents you might

use Acrobat Pro from Adobe and if all

you need is to create PDFs then you do

not need a dedicated app just for that

make your document in whatever app

you're comfortable with and Export it as

a PDF but if you need to modify PDF

documents then you might be starved for

high quality apps you can always open

them in in inkscape or Library

office draw but these tend to either

open a single page or break the

documents formatting LibreOffice draw

does a great job if you have all the

fonts used in the PDF that are also

installed on your system but editing

text is generally handled in a line per

line basis instead of recognizing things

as paragraphs which can be a pain to

deal with and of course PDF is not a

format that you're supposed to edit so

in most cases your best bet is to

actually edit the original version of

the document if you created it or to ask

the person who sent it to you to send

you an editable format but in some cases

that's just not an option now Visual

Studio codes code is licensed under the

MIT license so it is an open source

slash free software project but the

binary you can get from Microsoft isn't

open source and it includes some

Telemetry and some tracking the

alternative this is easy it's vs kodia

it's built on the open source parts of

vs code but it removes all the tracking

the Telemetry and the proprietary

components it's compatible with vs

code's plugins and extensions and it has

the exact same interface and features

but in a nice open source format it's

available for Windows for Mac OS and for

Linux as a Dev and RPM or on flat Hub it

does have a few restrictions compared to

vs code notably for specific Microsoft

extensions that cannot run outside of vs

code itself it also uses another

extension store that isn't the one

Microsoft uses since this one is

proprietary but you should be able to

find most of what you would actually

want to use in there unless you work

with specific Microsoft Technologies

you'll find the exact same interface and

the exact same plugins but in open

source format it's a no-brainer

and now for a few other recommendations

for nice open source apps and services

to replace your proprietary software

with to begin with there's the good old

next Cloud it's your fully open source

replacement for stuff like Office 365 or

Google workspace it handles file storage

and sharing collaboration chat and video

calls it can integrate with open source

office suites like collabora online and

only office and it has a ton of

additional apps that you can add to it

it is what I use every day to run this

Channel and accomplish all the work

related to actually publishing these

videos it's great it receives updates

really often and it's super modular I

can't recommend it enough which you

might have noticed since I talk about it

in almost every video If you use outlook

for email take a look at Thunderbird the

new interface is now wonderful and it

handles tasks calendars and emails

really really well and if you need to

plug into an exchange server there's a

plugin for that as well out just like

for virtually anything you would want to

do in the app like sticky notes adding

links to next cloud files templates and

more yes they are this video sponsor but

they're also my email client of choice

that I use every day the new version is

really really good if you have other

cool alternatives to all these apps or

to other proprietary apps that a lot of

people use don't hesitate to let us know

down there in the comments so everyone

can benefit and in the meantime I will

let you know about our sponsor if you're

a Linux user and you're planning to

upgrade your computer to something new

stop buying devices that ship with

Windows print style then crossing your

fingers so that your favorite Linux

distro just runs on your new thing buy

something that supports Linux out of the

box from tuxedo our sponsor they sell

laptops and desktops that ship with

Linux out of the box all the hardware

that they pack is specifically picked

because it runs Linux really well and

they actually submit patches Upstream to

fix all the little problems and

compatible ability issues that you might

encounter they have a big range of

devices that should cover every need and

every price point whether you're looking

for a laptop a Nook a giant Tower

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productivity you can select the

components you want you can also select

the keyboard layout you want on your

laptop have your own logo or your

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decide everything all the laptops are

also openable repairable and upgradable

including the ram the SSD and the

battery and sometimes even the wireless

car so if you need a new computer don't

buy something that runs Windows buy

something that runs Linux from the link

in the description below from tuxedo so

thanks everyone for watching the video I

hope you enjoyed it if you did don't

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this works so thanks everyone for

watching and I guess you will see me in

the next one bye

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foreign

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