This post will likely come off as a complaint and I don’t really mean it as such. I could make the same statement regarding multiple digital tools I have used. My guess is that developers don’t have the resources/time to communicate their intentions and what they have in mind may be easy to misinterpret. Smart Connections happens to be the most recent example of the issue I have encountered and perhaps describing the situation from my perspective may have some value.
My experience with Smart Connections has been as an Obsidian plugin. Obsidian is an open source tool for storing, connecting, and searching notes. The Smart Connections plugin adds to these capabilities by 1) identifying possible connections among notes and 2) providing a way to use AI to chat with notes. When used for its AI capabilities, Smart Connections provides AI capabilities through an API to AI services (e.g., OpenAI) and you pay the AI service for the AI capabilities used. You commit to a certain fee and can add more funds for the month if you exceed the limit. I have yet to exceed the $3 limit per month I set. I have written about my use of Smart Connections several times (e.g., finding connections, AI chat with notes). So, to summarize the pricing issue, to this point Obsidian and the Smart Connections plugin are free and open source, the AI capability is provided through an API at a low monthly cost.
Very recently, Smart Connections provided an update. This happens frequently. However, in addition to the update, the company appealed for supporters and provided a pricing plan. The supporter goals are beyond my resources and the capabilities of the $20 a month plan seem reasonable. My issue is that I already have multiple ways to apply AI to my resources (Mem.ai, NotebookLM, and Recall.ai). I also have an AI source (Abacus.ai). The capabilities of Smart Connections would be largely redundant with Mem.ai and NotebookLM services in which I have already loaded my curated content. It does not make sense to add another $20 to my monthly commitments. My complaint is essentially that these companies provide redundant capabilities in what is close to a winner take all market. To me, since Smart Connections is late to the game, why not charge a smaller monthly fee ($5) for the plugin.
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