8 ms·

Native all the way! Opening github page of app and seeing that pink line instead of yellow (line that represents languages used in project) made me smile! I am

Native all the way! Opening github page of app and seeing that pink line instead of yellow (line that represents languages used in project) made me smile! I am really surprised they did native app, plus it looks really nice, I tought "sigh, another electron app", but to my surprise I was wrong! Good job for guys at Telegram, respect.

Hamcha 10y ago
Even the previous layout (which I personally preferred, but tastes…) still looked like a webapp more than native.. in a good way, never had any glitches and I really wonder how much it must have took them to make all the animations work so nicely. I loved toggling between chats and settings to see if it broke.. but never did!
Karrot_Kream 10y ago
I really wish they would port the amazing thin Mac UI to other platforms. It's everything I want in a minimal, yet modern and clean looking IM UX.
- Philipp__ 10y ago
  You mean Cocoa? It won't happen.
akjainaj 10y ago
It's Qt by the way, and it's good on the three platforms. This is the GitHub repo. https://github.com/telegramdesktop/tdesktop https://github.com/telegramdesktop/tdesktop Development has always looked a bit fishy to me, though. The main developer is anonymous (using the name/pic of a TV character), maybe it's even several people using the same profile.
- bushin 10y ago
  That's probably Nikolai Durov.
- ivm 10y ago
  > It's Qt by the way, and it's good on the three platforms. I can't call "good" no accessibility support on macOS. But anyway Telegram Desktop is not the primary client for Macs, they have Cocoa-based alternative: https://macos.telegram.org/ https://macos.telegram.org/
lqdc13 10y ago
No secret chats in Telegram Desktop means its primary selling point is lost.
- reitanqild 10y ago
  ? I - and I guess many with me - don't trust the encryption at all. I assume the crypto might be broken, NSA and FSB and aliens might be listening but I don't care. My reasons to use it: Desktop support is way better than Whatsapp. More possibilities (bots, channels mostly). And because I don't want to support Whatsapp by being part of the network effect that keeps people on that platform. The reasons I use private chats sometimes is just to use autodelete to protect my conversations with my wife against my kids.
- Al-Khwarizmi 10y ago
  The encryption is often cited as its primary selling point here, but I don't think that's too representative. Certainly it isn't for me and most other Telegram users I know. I don't care much about that as I don't really trust any messaging app enough to send really confidential information through them. For me, for example, he selling point is having an interface as slick as Whatsapp's, but not being tied to the phone, not having to necessarily give your phone number, sending whatever attachments you want, and getting a searchable log in the cloud. Bots are also a popular feature with many users.
  - mverwijs 10y ago
    Telegram most certainly required me to enter mobile phone number. (Wouldn't even take a landline!)
    - Al-Khwarizmi 10y ago
      Sorry, I didn't express myself too clearly. I meant that you can add contacts without giving them your phone number. You do have to give Telegram your number.
    - ParadoxOryx 10y ago
ekiara 10y ago
Whats wrong with Electron Apps?
- pjmlp 10y ago
  Bloated, take too much RAM and don't use the OS features that I paid for.
  - weberc2 10y ago
    Unfortunately, the cross platform UI alternatives are all terrible.
    - pjmlp 10y ago
      I don't consider Qt, wxWidgets, Swing, JavaFX, FireMonkey, <build your own layer> terrible. For me it looks like web devs that don't want to learn native APIs.
      - weberc2 10y ago
        In my experience building Qt apps for a major automotive manufacturer (and more recently, building a web app), the latter is much easier, even if you know C++ and Qt and have mediocre knowledge of web tech. If you don't know C++, then add 6-24 months to the Qt estimate, and expect it to have more bugs than an Appalachian motel.
        pjmlp 10y ago
        How much QML in total application size did you use?
        weberc2 10y ago
        Our application largely predated QML, so none.
- discreditable 10y ago
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
runn1ng 10y ago
I don't get it. Why is native better than browser application? Browser application is by definition better sandboxed and can do much less damage to the system. Normal application can do mayhem. And Telegram needs root access for installation... do I want to give it root access? When I can just open another tab?
- pjmlp 10y ago
  Some users enjoy that software developers take advantage of the features of the OS they bought for a better UI/UX and performance.
- Philipp__ 10y ago
  Normal app can do mayhem just as any app can, even Electron one. I do not use Telegram, and do not know about root access, and it should be investigated. But root access is not always needed for native apps. Why is it better? Hundreds of reason, you can see down below. I will try to sum it up why I like native over electron in 3 words: responsiveness, robustness, cleanliness. Electron on desktop is resource hog for me. It is good for people that don't mind that, and that are deep into JS ecosystem. I am not, and I always prefer native app, partly because I am on macOS and Cocoa looks beautiful.
- Mithaldu 10y ago
  Performance considerations. Telegram at idle sits at 80mb ram and <0.01% cpu. Wire for example sits at 250mb idle and waffles between 0.05% and 2% cpu. Discord sits at 200mb idle and waffles between 0.01% and 0.10%, leaning towards the latter, jumping above it every few seconds at least.
- matthewmacleod 10y ago
  Electron apps are still native apps and have the same security story. They just include a browser.
  - runn1ng 10y ago
    Oooh, people are comparing native and Electron apps. Then yeah, in that case native makes sense. I thought they are talking about the chrome app version of telegram, which I am using right now.
baldfat 10y ago
> "sigh, another electron app" Awesome Electron Apps + VS Code (Which was light years ahead of Atom but that gap has narrowed) + RStudio + Discord
- Philipp__ 10y ago
  Your point is? Emacs/Vim/Sublime are faster, more extensible and native compared to VS Code. RStudio I didn't use, nor I programmed in R, and I didn't know it was Electron app anyway.
  - baldfat 10y ago
    I used VIM on my Amiga. Today I am mostly using VS Code on my 8 year old Dell at work. For coding there is no performance issues. My Point: VS Code is a great electron application. Works great.
    - Philipp__ 10y ago
      It is but it's slower than Vim. I've tried it. It is fast, for Electron app. Try opening huge text or log file in it.
      - baldfat 10y ago
        > It is but it's slower than Vim. VS Code < Vim < Vi < ed I don't get the text editor speed as an issue ever. I used Vim (I use Vim mode in all my editors) not because it was faster on the CPU it was because it made my work faster. Today VS Code makes me work fast. I seriously have a 8 year old Dell crappy corporate computer for work and there is no noticeable slow down on either RStudio or VS Code.

Hamcha 10y ago

Even the previous layout (which I personally preferred, but tastes…) still looked like a webapp more than native.. in a good way, never had any glitches and I really wonder how much it must have took them to make all the animations work so nicely. I loved toggling between chats and settings to see if it broke.. but never did!

Karrot_Kream 10y ago

I really wish they would port the amazing thin Mac UI to other platforms. It's everything I want in a minimal, yet modern and clean looking IM UX.

Philipp__ 10y ago
You mean Cocoa? It won't happen.

akjainaj 10y ago

It's Qt by the way, and it's good on the three platforms. This is the GitHub repo. https://github.com/telegramdesktop/tdesktop https://github.com/telegramdesktop/tdesktop Development has always looked a bit fishy to me, though. The main developer is anonymous (using the name/pic of a TV character), maybe it's even several people using the same profile.

bushin 10y ago
That's probably Nikolai Durov.
ivm 10y ago
> It's Qt by the way, and it's good on the three platforms. I can't call "good" no accessibility support on macOS. But anyway Telegram Desktop is not the primary client for Macs, they have Cocoa-based alternative: https://macos.telegram.org/ https://macos.telegram.org/

lqdc13 10y ago

No secret chats in Telegram Desktop means its primary selling point is lost.

reitanqild 10y ago
? I - and I guess many with me - don't trust the encryption at all. I assume the crypto might be broken, NSA and FSB and aliens might be listening but I don't care. My reasons to use it: Desktop support is way better than Whatsapp. More possibilities (bots, channels mostly). And because I don't want to support Whatsapp by being part of the network effect that keeps people on that platform. The reasons I use private chats sometimes is just to use autodelete to protect my conversations with my wife against my kids.
Al-Khwarizmi 10y ago
The encryption is often cited as its primary selling point here, but I don't think that's too representative. Certainly it isn't for me and most other Telegram users I know. I don't care much about that as I don't really trust any messaging app enough to send really confidential information through them. For me, for example, he selling point is having an interface as slick as Whatsapp's, but not being tied to the phone, not having to necessarily give your phone number, sending whatever attachments you want, and getting a searchable log in the cloud. Bots are also a popular feature with many users.
- mverwijs 10y ago
  Telegram most certainly required me to enter mobile phone number. (Wouldn't even take a landline!)
  - Al-Khwarizmi 10y ago
    Sorry, I didn't express myself too clearly. I meant that you can add contacts without giving them your phone number. You do have to give Telegram your number.
  - ParadoxOryx 10y ago

ekiara 10y ago

Whats wrong with Electron Apps?

pjmlp 10y ago
Bloated, take too much RAM and don't use the OS features that I paid for.
- weberc2 10y ago
  Unfortunately, the cross platform UI alternatives are all terrible.
  - pjmlp 10y ago
    I don't consider Qt, wxWidgets, Swing, JavaFX, FireMonkey, <build your own layer> terrible. For me it looks like web devs that don't want to learn native APIs.
    - weberc2 10y ago
      In my experience building Qt apps for a major automotive manufacturer (and more recently, building a web app), the latter is much easier, even if you know C++ and Qt and have mediocre knowledge of web tech. If you don't know C++, then add 6-24 months to the Qt estimate, and expect it to have more bugs than an Appalachian motel.
      - pjmlp 10y ago
        How much QML in total application size did you use?
        weberc2 10y ago
        Our application largely predated QML, so none.
discreditable 10y ago

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

runn1ng 10y ago

I don't get it. Why is native better than browser application? Browser application is by definition better sandboxed and can do much less damage to the system. Normal application can do mayhem. And Telegram needs root access for installation... do I want to give it root access? When I can just open another tab?

pjmlp 10y ago
Some users enjoy that software developers take advantage of the features of the OS they bought for a better UI/UX and performance.
Philipp__ 10y ago
Normal app can do mayhem just as any app can, even Electron one. I do not use Telegram, and do not know about root access, and it should be investigated. But root access is not always needed for native apps. Why is it better? Hundreds of reason, you can see down below. I will try to sum it up why I like native over electron in 3 words: responsiveness, robustness, cleanliness. Electron on desktop is resource hog for me. It is good for people that don't mind that, and that are deep into JS ecosystem. I am not, and I always prefer native app, partly because I am on macOS and Cocoa looks beautiful.
Mithaldu 10y ago
Performance considerations. Telegram at idle sits at 80mb ram and <0.01% cpu. Wire for example sits at 250mb idle and waffles between 0.05% and 2% cpu. Discord sits at 200mb idle and waffles between 0.01% and 0.10%, leaning towards the latter, jumping above it every few seconds at least.
matthewmacleod 10y ago
Electron apps are still native apps and have the same security story. They just include a browser.
- runn1ng 10y ago
  Oooh, people are comparing native and Electron apps. Then yeah, in that case native makes sense. I thought they are talking about the chrome app version of telegram, which I am using right now.

baldfat 10y ago

> "sigh, another electron app" Awesome Electron Apps + VS Code (Which was light years ahead of Atom but that gap has narrowed) + RStudio + Discord

Philipp__ 10y ago
Your point is? Emacs/Vim/Sublime are faster, more extensible and native compared to VS Code. RStudio I didn't use, nor I programmed in R, and I didn't know it was Electron app anyway.
- baldfat 10y ago
  I used VIM on my Amiga. Today I am mostly using VS Code on my 8 year old Dell at work. For coding there is no performance issues. My Point: VS Code is a great electron application. Works great.
  - Philipp__ 10y ago
    It is but it's slower than Vim. I've tried it. It is fast, for Electron app. Try opening huge text or log file in it.
    - baldfat 10y ago
      > It is but it's slower than Vim. VS Code < Vim < Vi < ed I don't get the text editor speed as an issue ever. I used Vim (I use Vim mode in all my editors) not because it was faster on the CPU it was because it made my work faster. Today VS Code makes me work fast. I seriously have a 8 year old Dell crappy corporate computer for work and there is no noticeable slow down on either RStudio or VS Code.