Over the years there are a number of tools I have used to manage projects and todo lists. I've tried may note-taking apps. I'm written notes in markdown and then org-mode.

The one long running trend that has persisted for all of these things is a move toward plain text.

  • Plain text will never go away.
  • Plain text has no vendor lock-in.
  • Plain text files can be opened on any system with any editor, regardless of your markup style preferences.
  • Plain text files can be stored with any cloud storage provider or version control system.

To sway people towards a certain editor or markup flavor is tempting. Instead, I will just issue this challenge. For any information that you care about keeping for a long period of time, consider storing it somewhere safely as plain text.