mindsync©️ is officially open-source
Which technically still applies when there is essentially... no... source... uhhh..
☝️ I'll be working on that for at least ~10 hours per week until it feels like it's so good that I don't need to anymore, or it's so trash that I should delete it... ;)
💡 I have broad ideas to chase down around UI/UX, MVP, features, free/paid lines of demarcation, etc. I've got some product designing to do before we get into the code. I aim to keep this pretty light... I'd much rather get something out to folks ASAP and hear what they have to say before trying to see 12 moves ahead of the chessboard.
I don't know if this thing will ever make a dime. I'm starting from a place of building something that I wish existed. Maybe there's more people out there that can benefit from it.
Of course, like an impatient 12 year old, as all engineers can be, I've already selected the tech stack. These are technologies that I've worked with before that I am sure can accomplish the task at hand in a manner that doesn't bloat the app or make me want to pull my non-existent hair out.
Surprise! All of the tools/frameworks I'm using are open-source too.
| Responsibility | Technology | |
|---|---|---|
| 👨💻 | UI | React Native |
| 🌤️ | Client state | Context API |
| ☁ | API/Server | .NET |
| ❓ | Unified Querying | GraphQL |
| 🔌 | GraphQL Server for .NET | Hot Chocolate |
| 📀 | Database | Neo4j |
| 🔌 | Neo4j/.NET ORM | Blueprint41 |
| 🔥 | DevOps | GitHub |
I'm trying to decide if it's worth it to write infrastructure as code for this project... it sounds fun, at least.
💭 Why so Gung ho on open-source? What is this app? Why is this the 58th post you've made about it before writing one line of code? wtf is mindsync? Let me explain.
🧠 mindsync will be a mobile household/family/private-shared productivity, planning, and task scheduling/reminding/notating app with strong focuses on ease of use, user engagement/personalization, security, and neurodiversity. An open-source license is paramount for this kind of application, in my opinion, because I want you to love the design, love how the app helps you and your family remember and accomplish tasks, and be able to 100% trust that you can enjoy your experience without worrying about your data.
Period.
The concept is:
✅ secure
✅ focused
✅ practical
✅ intuitive
✅ way too easy to use
I want to fundamentally change the way families/households/friend groups communicate the never-ending list of household tasks, events, to-do lists, and other pertinent planning information with one another; especially for folks of neurodiversity, i.e. ADHD, General Anxiety, ASD, etc. I want to do it in a way that acknowledges...
👉 Verbal communication and physical logging/remembering of tasks or events is just a recipe for disaster for so many of us. In my experience, it is hard to express why I cannot remember a single thing that I do not write down and make a reminder for. This niche has solutions already, for sure, but...
❗️ They just kinda suck.
Every. Single. F*cking. One. Google Drive, Microsoft 365, doesn't matter.
🗑️ Other solutions are too clunky. The principal users who have formed a sharing group and attempt to share things with each other are not regarded as the central domain -- You and your family/friends should be the focus! It's your data, your experience!
🥷 Other solutions don't give a sh*t about your data privacy or digital safety. This one is just plain obvious. Apple and Google have both been caught multiple times divulging information about their users they weren't supposed to.
💰 Other solutions cost way too much. The last time I tried to open a shared Microsoft 365 "organization", the price was bottom-lined at what a company of 100 people would pay. How does that make sense?
❌ It doesn't. None of it makes any sense. They all suck at everything they strive to do when it comes to the household-range of users.
😕 These huge services weren't built with your challenges in mind. They were not built to ease the lives of groups of 2-10 people with powerful, focused, personalized tools like mindsync will be.
❓ When is the last time Google Drive suggested a change in your schedule to you? When is the last time Microsoft 365 noticed other users haven't viewed your Calendar event yet and notified you?
🛸 That's right... never.
🤝 Simply Put:
❌ I will never require the entry of or store your full legal name.
❌ I will never ask you to generate a short, insecure password; 256 characters permitted.
❌ I will never require or collect your phone number. You won't have to delete 78 authentication codes per month. You won't have to worry about my little app adding to your random spam-call misery.
❌ I will never require you to write loathsome, generic security questions and answers.
❌ 99.9% of integration logins will not be allowed.
🚦 The only integration I will allow is Apple, if it is required in the App store.
✅ You will only provide a name of your choice (not my business), an email address you can rely on, and a password.
✅ You will only use 3rd party authentication apps or email when you're having access trouble.
✅ You will be surprised and impressed by the app's performance. Large companies break the rules of separation of concerns to ship software faster. I don't do that.
⚠️ This is crucial: this app will not be intended for use with folks you do not know or trust. You should never interface with someone you do not know through mindsync.
🔍 And therein lie the differences
between mindsync and the massive platforms Microsoft, Google, Apple, and others have tried to shoehorn together based on their massive data-mining systems to accomplish the goal of digital shared planning of events, tasks, appointments, grocery lists, files, etc...
👾 My app will be singularly built for this purpose. My app will allow you to see exactly what I am doing with your data, as it is open-source. Heck, before version 1.0, I'll even publish a human-readable report on the lifecycle of each piece of PII that I ask you for; and then your smart hacker friend can double check anytime in my source code. I'll make sure the report stays up to date with the app.
💯
I cannot guarantee you a FAANG closed-source OS you are using will never grab and sell your data anyway, but I can guarantee you my application will not be the culprit. If this is ever false, I will always revert the version and remove the issue from public use immediately and make sure it is fixed before we re-visit that new version.
This is the largest... thing... in general that I have ever taken on by myself. Yeah I know; I'm not the first dope to open-source an application. It is truly important to me, and I want in some small way to show you why it should be important to you, too.
I want to build something that I can use at home with my family. To have an easy, personalized experience that learns more about my relationship with menial tasks, scheduled events, note-taking, and sharing frequency everyday, and offers me a better experience with that information. Most importantly, I want you to have this tool, as well, and help me make it better for all of us.
I've got a long road ahead. I am optimistically planning for exclusive beta testing by the end of this year. There will be plenty of updates as initiatives progress. Thanks for reading 👍
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