Ah yeah, it would most likely have been the reason we updated our syncing engine in June of 2019. I don't believe you'd experience any of the same issues today.
Do you recall when this was? This kind of feedback is highly unusual for us. Most users love SN precisely for its reliable sync. Our syncing engine underwent large-scale changes in June/July of this year to solve an edge case with opening out-of-date clients. If you experienced any issues after this date with updated clients, I'd be very surprised, but would love to hear more if you can spare a moment.
The only other issue we have heard of precisely one other time has to do with Firefox pinned tabs + some assortment of Firefox browser extensions. To be clear, any reproducible issues with syncing are 100% fixed as quickly as possible.
Lastly, regarding our API for syncing, while our encryption specification is described in plain text detail, you'd have to inspect our source to see how syncing works.
Three years is typically just the tip of the iceberg ;) There's probably at least a decade's worth of failures that lead up to finally having a successful product.
I had a similar experience growing my company (funnily enough, also a note taking app). When I reached the point where I had everything I needed, I had to ask myself, why keep going?
The answer for me was a custom-fitted realization that building a company is to be treated no different than a game. A factory building simulation game, like Factorio. The goal isn't to achieve operational bliss, because that goal is wickedly unattainable (or also extremely attainable, but would mean you'd accomplish that goal by simply just not playing at all). It is instead to grow, build, scale, solve, for no reason other than it being enjoyable to do so. Because playing the game, for problem-solving minded individuals, is a lot more stimulating than not playing it.
I wrote more about my personal experience with this here:
Standard Notes | Senior Fullstack Developer | Remote, Chicago | Full-time
Standard Notes is looking for our first full stack engineer. This is a high-autonomy job, and you will have a large say in shaping the architecture of the product.
Our technology stack includes:
- JavaScript (web app)
- React Native (mobile app)
- Electron (desktop app wrapping web app)
- Ruby on Rails (servers and website)
- AWS (Linux/MySQL)
JavaScript experience is crucial, and Ruby/Rails experience is optimal.
The salary range for this role is $50k-$65k USD, which makes this an ideal position for Europe and South America based developers. If you have different salary requirements, please mention this in your email.
You'll be working directly with our engineering founder (Mo) to scale and improve our product, and solve interesting problems at the intersection of privacy/security and user-friendly productivity software. This role has the potential to lead quite naturally into a leadership/VP position in a short period of time, with the right candidate.
You can take a look at most of our stack on our GitHub page (github.com/standardnotes). Feel free to browse around, and if working on projects like these sounds like something you'd be into, get in touch! Please send your resume, along with any online profiles (personal site, GitHub, StackOverflow, Twitter, etc), to [email protected].