I believe the main reason for the obsession is that we intuitively know that it can be done "right" (according to our own personal preferences) - but that a solution is not yet at hand. So we install every possible attempt we come across, only to find that no - not yet.

Here is some of what I am personally looking for:

- a wysiwyg rich text interface, with embedding capabilities, with an optional markdown interface and (closest) representation

- integrated web clipper a la Evernote

- multidimensional categorization (i.e. not a single hierarchy of notebooks) that links to universal categories

- AI-supported automatic summaries and categorization

- Optionally encrypted when stored centrally, with finegrained visibility options.

- Optionally savable locally only, encrypted or not-encrypted

- Datahandling and coding capabilities, a la ObservableHQ/Jupyter/Datasette

- Linkable in various ways to other notes, my own or others

- and more!