6 ms·

It's not only the web anymore. What about the desktop Slack that can take up to 1Gb of RAM for a "simple" chat client.

pseudocook 8y ago
Desktop Slack runs on Electron, no? Which essentially lets web developers develop a "native-ish" cross-platform app, without learning a whole new platform. There is a long, long history of attempts to make good, cross-platform, native apps. In the late 1990s there was a company called Visix that had such a library that worked on Windows and Unix. There have been Windows implementations of Motif/XWindows. There was of course Java/JWT. These days there is Qt. None of these seem to have really caught fire. edit: I wrote Mac but I meant Unix
- peterwwillis 8y ago
  Yeah, because cross-platform is a PITA. The reason web apps are popular is they're thin-terminals. You write your business logic on your mainframe/terminal server (linux vps) and the web app just handles the user interface. You maintain less portable code, deployment and upgrade is easier, and it simplifies the user experience a bit. The downside being network issues and supporting the server.
  - TeMPOraL 8y ago
    I wish that was the case. Web developers nowadays try to push as much code as they can out into the browser, to be run client-side.
- user5994461 8y ago
  Qt and Java can do cross platform software, however it's not possible to make a UI that's usable on desktop, tablet and mobile. You will end up creating separate apps. Qt is actually really impressive in my opinion, it's possible to recompile a desktop software for mobile, sometimes without any code change at all.
moolcool 8y ago
I don't know why the slack desktop client is so popular. It's almost no different from the web client, but eats more RAM if you already have Chrome open. Just pin Slack in a tab and save your memory
- pavel_lishin 8y ago
  > I don't know why the slack desktop client is so popular. In-dock notifications and system notifications are my reasons, as well as a dedicated window I can alt-tab to instead of tabbing through browser windows, then navigating to the Slack tab. (I realize that for some people, "hiding" Slack in a pinned tab may be a feature.)
  - nrhk 8y ago
    Just open in a separate chrome window?
    - pavel_lishin 8y ago
      In OS X, if I alt-tab over to Chrome, it will focus on whatever window I had in focus last; I'd still have to Command-Tilde to find the Slack one. I know, it's a minor kvetch. But it's a minor kvetch I can solve with a gig of RAM.
      - jciochon 8y ago
        You may be interested in an app called HyperSwitch. It lets you tab between individual windows of each app! There’s also opt-tab which will cycle through individual app windows.
      - klondike_ 8y ago
        Try Chrome web app mode: https://superuser.com/questions/33548/starting-google-chrome-in-application-mode https://superuser.com/questions/33548/starting-google-chrome...
  - jerf 8y ago
slowmovintarget 8y ago
I'd be saying "Yeah!" along with you, but that client is also a video chat and audio calling app, not just text and images. There's bloatware out there, and this may even qualify, but it isn't just text chat. (Why would you use the desktop client for text chat anyway?)
- fermuch 8y ago
  Skype also has audio and video, with custom codecs even, and p2p, yet it wasn't even close to using the very real 1gb of ram slack consumes (I'm talking about the old desktop client, not the new electron based one)
- lstodd 8y ago
  audio/video work fine in chromium.
jstewartmobile 8y ago
My GMail tab runs between 225MB and 400MB+. And I used to think Java's memory usage was bad...
- cozzyd 8y ago
  If I leave gmail open too long, it starts eating 100% of CPU for some reason (Firefox on Linux).
  - jstewartmobile 8y ago
    I'm using Opera on both Linux & Windows 10. It's pretty light on the CPU, but I get the "Out of Memory" screens regularly (on 16GB machines!).
ilaksh 8y ago
It contains Chromium in it's entirety, which is a contemporary full featured browser, which is actually in a way a complete operating system.

Desktop Slack runs on Electron, no? Which essentially lets web developers develop a "native-ish" cross-platform app, without learning a whole new platform. There is a long, long history of attempts to make good, cross-platform, native apps. In the late 1990s there was a company called Visix that had such a library that worked on Windows and Unix. There have been Windows implementations of Motif/XWindows. There was of course Java/JWT. These days there is Qt. None of these seem to have really caught fire. edit: I wrote Mac but I meant Unix

peterwwillis 8y ago
Yeah, because cross-platform is a PITA. The reason web apps are popular is they're thin-terminals. You write your business logic on your mainframe/terminal server (linux vps) and the web app just handles the user interface. You maintain less portable code, deployment and upgrade is easier, and it simplifies the user experience a bit. The downside being network issues and supporting the server.
- TeMPOraL 8y ago
  I wish that was the case. Web developers nowadays try to push as much code as they can out into the browser, to be run client-side.
user5994461 8y ago
Qt and Java can do cross platform software, however it's not possible to make a UI that's usable on desktop, tablet and mobile. You will end up creating separate apps. Qt is actually really impressive in my opinion, it's possible to recompile a desktop software for mobile, sometimes without any code change at all.

moolcool 8y ago

I don't know why the slack desktop client is so popular. It's almost no different from the web client, but eats more RAM if you already have Chrome open. Just pin Slack in a tab and save your memory

pavel_lishin 8y ago
> I don't know why the slack desktop client is so popular. In-dock notifications and system notifications are my reasons, as well as a dedicated window I can alt-tab to instead of tabbing through browser windows, then navigating to the Slack tab. (I realize that for some people, "hiding" Slack in a pinned tab may be a feature.)
- nrhk 8y ago
  Just open in a separate chrome window?
  - pavel_lishin 8y ago
    In OS X, if I alt-tab over to Chrome, it will focus on whatever window I had in focus last; I'd still have to Command-Tilde to find the Slack one. I know, it's a minor kvetch. But it's a minor kvetch I can solve with a gig of RAM.
    - jciochon 8y ago
      You may be interested in an app called HyperSwitch. It lets you tab between individual windows of each app! There’s also opt-tab which will cycle through individual app windows.
    - klondike_ 8y ago
      Try Chrome web app mode: https://superuser.com/questions/33548/starting-google-chrome-in-application-mode https://superuser.com/questions/33548/starting-google-chrome...
- jerf 8y ago

slowmovintarget 8y ago

I'd be saying "Yeah!" along with you, but that client is also a video chat and audio calling app, not just text and images. There's bloatware out there, and this may even qualify, but it isn't just text chat. (Why would you use the desktop client for text chat anyway?)

fermuch 8y ago
Skype also has audio and video, with custom codecs even, and p2p, yet it wasn't even close to using the very real 1gb of ram slack consumes (I'm talking about the old desktop client, not the new electron based one)
lstodd 8y ago
audio/video work fine in chromium.

jstewartmobile 8y ago

My GMail tab runs between 225MB and 400MB+. And I used to think Java's memory usage was bad...

cozzyd 8y ago
If I leave gmail open too long, it starts eating 100% of CPU for some reason (Firefox on Linux).
- jstewartmobile 8y ago
  I'm using Opera on both Linux & Windows 10. It's pretty light on the CPU, but I get the "Out of Memory" screens regularly (on 16GB machines!).

ilaksh 8y ago

It contains Chromium in it's entirety, which is a contemporary full featured browser, which is actually in a way a complete operating system.