3 ms·

I use Linux as my desktop and the rising popularity of electron means that most "cross platform desktop app" links which used to mean "we do windows AND mac!" a

I use Linux as my desktop and the rising popularity of electron means that most "cross platform desktop app" links which used to mean "we do windows AND mac!" are actually cross-platform, are usable on Linux and are feature-complete and behave the same as on other platforms. Electron has been a godsend to Linux users and it can definitely be highly performant. I've even switched from vim to vscode because the latter is actually the slickest IDE I've ever used. You're yet to see a single necessary electron port? Well, I use 4 all the time, probably none of which would even be Linux-compatible were it not for electron. YMMV.

Veratyr 9y ago
> means that most "cross platform desktop app" links which used to mean "we do windows AND mac!" are actually cross-platform The "cross platform desktop apps" I'm objecting to are really just webapps that could run just as well in a browser without the wrapper. If they weren't released in a wrapper at all, they'd still be cross platform. > I've even switched from vim to vscode because the latter is actually the slickest IDE I've ever used. VSCode and Atom make a little more sense in Electron because they actually have requirements that can't be met when run purely in a browser (like running a build system). I still prefer a native IDE like Sublime Text but I can see also see the benefit of using Electron here. The apps I have problems with are the webapp ports like Slack, Discord and Spotify. > You're yet to see a single necessary electron port? Well, I use 4 all the time What are they? What makes them necessary (other than VSCode, which I understand as explained above)?
- roryisok 9y ago
  Slack and discord maybe, but Spotify plays your local music library. Can't do that in the browser (well, maybe with java applets)
  - dennykane 9y ago
    Unless you can put the [little used] HTML5 FileSystem API into full-effect, by creating a full-blown Unix-like operating system (complete with a desktop environment) that runs inside of a browser tab (ie, is "just" a web page)... so that whatever music files are kept in this browser-sandboxed filesystem become your local music library. (Yes, this idea is slowly but surely becoming a reality... I'm the creator of a little thing called "Linux on the Web", at https://linuxontheweb.org https://linuxontheweb.org)
  - Veratyr 9y ago
    Ah, didn't know that. It's a shame, there was a spec for that but it got dropped: https://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/file/filesystem/ https://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/file/filesystem/
sjellis 9y ago
"I use Linux as my desktop and the rising popularity of electron means that most "cross platform desktop app" links which used to mean "we do windows AND mac!" are actually cross-platform, are usable on Linux and are feature-complete and behave the same as on other platforms." This. Electron makes it economically and technically feasible for companies to deliver the same features and support to Linux users as their other customers. The thing is often not explicitly stated is that many companies using Electron are not desktop software vendors, but SaaS providers. They aren't going to do native desktop applications, because they just want to provide nice clients to users for their particular service.
roryisok 9y ago
I'm going to bookmark this post and refer all figure electron arguments here. You're right. Nobody would ever bother porting these apps to Linux

Veratyr 9y ago

> means that most "cross platform desktop app" links which used to mean "we do windows AND mac!" are actually cross-platform The "cross platform desktop apps" I'm objecting to are really just webapps that could run just as well in a browser without the wrapper. If they weren't released in a wrapper at all, they'd still be cross platform. > I've even switched from vim to vscode because the latter is actually the slickest IDE I've ever used. VSCode and Atom make a little more sense in Electron because they actually have requirements that can't be met when run purely in a browser (like running a build system). I still prefer a native IDE like Sublime Text but I can see also see the benefit of using Electron here. The apps I have problems with are the webapp ports like Slack, Discord and Spotify. > You're yet to see a single necessary electron port? Well, I use 4 all the time What are they? What makes them necessary (other than VSCode, which I understand as explained above)?

roryisok 9y ago
Slack and discord maybe, but Spotify plays your local music library. Can't do that in the browser (well, maybe with java applets)
- dennykane 9y ago
  Unless you can put the [little used] HTML5 FileSystem API into full-effect, by creating a full-blown Unix-like operating system (complete with a desktop environment) that runs inside of a browser tab (ie, is "just" a web page)... so that whatever music files are kept in this browser-sandboxed filesystem become your local music library. (Yes, this idea is slowly but surely becoming a reality... I'm the creator of a little thing called "Linux on the Web", at https://linuxontheweb.org https://linuxontheweb.org)
- Veratyr 9y ago
  Ah, didn't know that. It's a shame, there was a spec for that but it got dropped: https://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/file/filesystem/ https://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/file/filesystem/

sjellis 9y ago

"I use Linux as my desktop and the rising popularity of electron means that most "cross platform desktop app" links which used to mean "we do windows AND mac!" are actually cross-platform, are usable on Linux and are feature-complete and behave the same as on other platforms." This. Electron makes it economically and technically feasible for companies to deliver the same features and support to Linux users as their other customers. The thing is often not explicitly stated is that many companies using Electron are not desktop software vendors, but SaaS providers. They aren't going to do native desktop applications, because they just want to provide nice clients to users for their particular service.

roryisok 9y ago

I'm going to bookmark this post and refer all figure electron arguments here. You're right. Nobody would ever bother porting these apps to Linux