Anyone here who tried to use the chinese version of Evernote?

[AlbertR 587]

Before some months (during the first discussions around Ian Small's exit from EN), I recognized that there is an Evernote spinoff serving China and the Greater China markets: yinxiang.com - a joint venture between Evernote and Sequoia... Ian Small kept being a member of the Board of Directors there.

Yinxiang offers an Evernote version 7.x with nice Mindmap and Markup features - and the possibility to import ENEX files 😉 

Having in mind that it might be dangerous to use chinese software, I didn't try it by myself so far - but is here anyone who has made any experiences with the company Yinxiang or the software Evernote_7.0.109.7595?

 

[gazumped 11,828]

That's a completely separate company behind the Great Firewall - I'm unsure about the likelihood of connection issues with their servers,  or the compatibility of their software with Evernote's servers.  Also given the slightly tense relations between the East and West "interruptions of service" might arise without warning.  If you're in China,  it's a no-brainer.  Over here it's looking a very chancy activity...

[agsteele 3,006]

My understanding is that Yinxiang and Evernote separated so there is no business relationship. I see, thanks to DeepL translation, that the current Yinxiang version is 10.7.34

However, the UI is entirely Chinese so not very user friendly for me If privacy is a concern then not the path I'd travel.

[PinkElephant 8,388]

It is a completely separate company, servers are behind the Great Firewall, backup is courtesy of the Chinese government.

It was split off when any company operating servers in China was forced to install a backdoor.

[AlbertR 587]

16 minutes ago, gazumped said:

That's a completely separate company behind the Great Firewall

It was founded by Evernote and I'm sure they share resources up to now. Maybe they're good or better as EN development - but they offer new (Home screen, ...) and more (Mindmap, Markup) features in a way that looks precisely like Evernote.

I would not wonder to see such features sometimes within Italian versions of EN - developed by chinese stuff?

[AlbertR 587]

29 minutes ago, agsteele said:

However, the UI is entirely Chinese

Hmm, I took an old maschine, installed last Windows client Evernote_7.0.109.7595, found an "English [en-US]" UI that looks like a EN10(*) (including Calendar and Tasks (they call it "Todo"s) with integrated AI for "Smart Tags" and a "Knowledge Atlas" to visualize note grouping (as far as I see for the moment).

(*) but oups: It a Legacy-client: I see a Sync button, can define Reminder time colums and sort by Reminder, ... - all that stuff that is not available in EN10 so far 😉

This all cannot be implemented completely without deeper co-work with EN. The only thing I "missed" in Yinxang is the Electron framework and RTE. Maybe they work together and check out new features in different markets?

[agsteele 3,006]

As I said, there is no link between Yinxiang and Evernote. That was broken some time ago.

You can go with Yinxiang or with Evernote. They won't cooperate together.

Personally I don't want my data behind the firewall.

[AlbertR 587]

1 hour ago, agsteele said:

Personally I don't want my days behind the firewall.

Nobody wants that. But it's interesting to see what might come up in future.

1 hour ago, agsteele said:

They won't cooperate together.

Not sure. "EN willl never go to Italy" might be a similar phrase, everyone would have signed in the past 😉.

[gazumped 11,828]

2 hours ago, AlbertR said:

I would not wonder to see such features sometimes within Italian versions of EN - developed by chinese stuff?

It would depend on the terms of the sale to Bending Spoons and the validity of any continuing agreements between Evernote and Yinxiang,  but even if they are compatible I'd expect the Chinese to want serious licence fees for any shared features,  and for Bending Spoons - who do their own development - to strongly resist paying for something they could develop on their own.  But you're then up to the cost-benefit and practicality of doing so based on the Elektron platform,  and the availability of resources to implement it.

Plus neither of us have the slightest idea what we're talking about and 1) those features might already be in development but based on their previous behaviour Evernote would never comment on whether or when something might happen;  or 2) for some other business or technical reason the new Evernote won't touch this with a barge pole.  We may never know...

[PinkElephant 8,388]

When EN and Yinxiang parted, there was not even the code base in place we today call „legacy“. From this moment both entities took on their own trajectory.

Since Electron is based on Chromium, and Chromium being a spin off of Chrome, I doubt it is supported in China. Google left the Chinese market for good years ago.

Maybe they are on talking terms - but that’s probably it.

[Mishkafofer 28]

Damn, Chinese EN mind map tool looks cool.

Also, Chinese EN boasts about global reach. I presume Chinese users are not aware what happens abroad.

[PinkElephant 8,388]

There is no Chinese EN, and there are no Chinese EN users from the PRC (unless maybe a few on quite sophisticated VPN services).

There is a company called Yinxiang, with its own code base, servers and users.

Using the wording „Chinese EN“ is either malicious or ignorant.

[AlbertR 587]

On 7/19/2023 at 11:49 PM, PinkElephant said:

There is a company called Yinxiang, with its own code base, servers and users.
Using the wording „Chinese EN“ is either malicious or ignorant.

Oups, as long as

• Ian Small continues to be a "Member of the Board of Directors at Yinxiang Biji, Evernote's spinoff serving China and the Greater China markets"

and

• Yinxiang itself uses "Evernote" as their product name

using "Chinese EN" is neither malicious nor ignorant.

[gazumped 11,828]

45 minutes ago, AlbertR said:

using "Chinese EN" is neither malicious nor ignorant.

It's still pretty pointless - presumably Evernote licenced the name and software and left Mr S there to keep an eye on things - which AFAIK will now have zero effect since he's now not based in Italy and has no continuing interest or connection with the 'original' version.  Please let's not start a fight over the right way to address a non-existent problem...

[PinkElephant 8,388]

Some questions posted pointed in the direction whether it would make sense to migrate to "the Chinese EN".

The answer is there is NO Chinese EN. There is a spin off that happened years ago, and as for all services located in China, we can safely assume that the Chinese government (including the security forces) has full access to all data stored there - and is permanently searching it, suspecting the evil of free thinking and discussion behind every bit of data.

Calling it "Chinese EN" makes the unsuspecting user think about a safe clone. It is not a clone any more, since it progressed down its own development path. And it is inherently unsafe for use, at least when expecting a minimum level of privacy. These facts shouldn't be cloaked by constructing ties that are not there any more.

[gazumped 11,828]

Totally agree that whatever runs in China apparently stays in China since the software always (AFAIK) link to Yinxiang Biji,  and you can bet that their backdoor has backdoors.  (Basing this on a few queries we had years ago for ways to transfer links from that server to Evernote's)

Anyhoo - seems like we're all nervously waiting on the arrival of 10.60,  so let's hope that's not a new can of worms;  I could do with some downtime to enjoy the Summer!

[AlbertR 587]

See also: Slow to respond or Not Responding