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> The underlying issue here is that Electron reduces the barrier to entry for cross-platform development. Actually, the incentive is even stronger than this. T

by rndmize 10y ago

> The underlying issue here is that Electron reduces the barrier to entry for cross-platform development. Actually, the incentive is even stronger than this. The ability to visit a website and start using an identical version of the app immediately is just as important - I doubt that Slack and Discord would have had half the success they did if users had to download the application before using it, regardless of them being available on all platforms. Discord has had the ability to give links to others to join a chat server since its inception, resulting in a two-step process to use it: click the link, type a name. This is miles less of a barrier to entry than: click link, download app, find downloads, install app, run app, create account, join server (rough process for most text/voice apps up to this point).

Cyph0n 10y ago
Most people I know just the app though. Heck, I actually only discovered the Discord web client yesterday.
mercer 10y ago
It's a difficult trade-off, even for me as a user. The fact that I can load Slack on all my devices and in the browser definitely played a role in my adoption of it. The fact that Slack is dog-slow and a memory-hog on my MacBook Air, on the other hand, has kept me from using it as a central part of my own work. Similarly, I am actively pushing everyone I communicate with the switch from WhatsApp to Telegram because the latter has a performant native app. If I were to build an app where cross-platform support was crucial, I'd probably start with Electron as well because of time and budget concerns, and switch to native if the app 'takes off'. But on the other hand, I can imagine there being serious risks to building out an entire platform that way and having to rebuild it from scratch later on. Maybe there's never budget/time for it, leaving me locked in? I suppose React Native could help in that regard.

by rndmize 10y ago

Cyph0n 10y ago

Most people I know just the app though. Heck, I actually only discovered the Discord web client yesterday.

mercer 10y ago

It's a difficult trade-off, even for me as a user. The fact that I can load Slack on all my devices and in the browser definitely played a role in my adoption of it. The fact that Slack is dog-slow and a memory-hog on my MacBook Air, on the other hand, has kept me from using it as a central part of my own work. Similarly, I am actively pushing everyone I communicate with the switch from WhatsApp to Telegram because the latter has a performant native app. If I were to build an app where cross-platform support was crucial, I'd probably start with Electron as well because of time and budget concerns, and switch to native if the app 'takes off'. But on the other hand, I can imagine there being serious risks to building out an entire platform that way and having to rebuild it from scratch later on. Maybe there's never budget/time for it, leaving me locked in? I suppose React Native could help in that regard.