Do people still use $language editors?
My impression was that everyone uses their $EDITOR and integrates languages support via plugins. The only exception to this rule I know is Emacs (org mode). I really doubt a standalone md editor will get traction, no matter how good it is.
My impression was that Obsidian is more than an editor: personal wiki, todo tracker, database, etc..
The currently offered feature list in Ferrite — code blocks, mermaid — suggests you are targeting developers or tech people here, hence, not really iA Writer... Typora — never heard of it, can't comment.
Anyway, thanks for seeing this as skepticism, and not criticism. With my comment, I tried to subtly suggest that there should be more to it, than an editor.
Regardless, good luck!
You're right, currently Ferrite leans developer/tech with Mermaid, JSON/YAML tree viewer, and CLI integration. The Obsidian-style features (wikilinks, backlinks, knowledge graph) are coming in v0.3.0.
Target audience is probably "developers who take notes" rather than pure writers. The native performance angle is the differentiator, same niche as "I want Notion but faster" or "Obsidian but lighter."
Completely non-accusatory, just wondering. Did you write this post using an LLM? I sort of feel the typical "voice" if LLM writing here and wondering if I should calibrate myself a bit in this.
Sometimes it is nice to have a separate application for notes compared to the editor being used for code. It means they can be customized for their individual purposes. Sometimes there are minor inconveniences (I miss multi-select/change in Obsidian sometimes), but even when I used an editor for my MD notes, I found myself using SublimeText for that while I used VSCode or IntelliJ for coding. Just a 1 of 1 experience, but as mentioned elsewhere, there is a large adoption of note taking apps separate from code editors, and a few of them use markdown as the underlying file type which I require for anything I use for portability.
Valid skepticism! A few counterpoints:
Market exists: Obsidian has 1M+ users, Typora is popular, iA Writer has a loyal following. These aren't VS Code users who wandered off — they're writers, PKM enthusiasts, and note-takers who find IDE-style editors overwhelming for prose.
Different audience: Developers might prefer VS Code + Markdown Preview Enhanced. But Ferrite targets people who want a focused writing tool, not a general-purpose editor that happens to support Markdown. Think "writing app" vs "code editor with Markdown support."
Native advantage: Most Markdown tools are Electron (Obsidian, Typora, Mark Text). Ferrite offers instant startup, lower RAM, and native performance — appeals to the "I want my tools to feel fast" crowd.
You might be right that it won't achieve mass adoption. But there's a niche for "Obsidian but native and lighter" that I think is underserved.