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Google needs to release desktop apps in Flutter (Youtube Music, Chat, Meet etc..). a Webapp is fine for occasional use, but Google Chat can't compete with Slack

by awill 6y ago

Google needs to release desktop apps in Flutter (Youtube Music, Chat, Meet etc..). a Webapp is fine for occasional use, but Google Chat can't compete with Slack without a real app.

spankalee 6y ago
Totally. You definitely can't compete against Slack's desktop app with web technologies: https://slack.engineering/building-hybrid-applications-with-electron-dc67686de5fb https://slack.engineering/building-hybrid-applications-with-...
- dahfizz 6y ago
  Personally I can't tell the difference between the slack app and slack open in my browser. It is literally identical. In Firefox, I can even go "full screen" but still control the size and location of the window, so I don't have to look at the tab bar. Side by side, I can't tell them apart visually or functionally. Maybe the Linux version of electron is neutered in some way? I read article you linked and I don't know what bouncing the dock means, maybe that's an important native feature for mac users?
  - jeffbee 6y ago
    Slack in the browser is visibly superior to the slack app. When I close the tab it's really dead. Great feature. The slack "app" is just their web site and a web browser zipped together in such a way that it doesn't actually quit when you tell it to quit. Why anyone wants that I cannot begin to imagine.
    - sciurus 6y ago
      I'm not sure what you mean. On OS X quitting the app certainly seems to actually quit it
      - jeffbee 6y ago
        """By default, your app is set to keep running in the notifications area even when the window is closed. Choosing not to leave the app running will remove the Slack icon and badges from your notifications area."""
        applecrazy 6y ago
        On macOS, closing all an app’s windows ≠ quitting an application. When you Command-Q Slack, it should close completely (which afaik it does).
        jeffbee 6y ago
        Great, that is a platform that exists, that I bet has almost 10% of Slack's market share.
        sciurus 6y ago
        But that's normal for all apps on OS X. Closing their window doesn't mean quitting them. I'm not sure why you'd fault Slack for following the OS's conventions here. To quit it, choose that from it's menu or use the cmnd-q shortcut IIRC.
    - mathw 6y ago
      Slack is behaving in the same way as innumerable instant messaging clients in the past, because they consider themselves in that category rather than perhaps in an IRC sort of category which is maybe where you see them? And there's an option to turn that behaviour off, if you don't like it. But I would prefer if it wasn't all Electron because it really does feel like the resource overhead is unnecessary. But if it wasn't done with this tech, we probably wouldn't have a Linux client at all, and maybe not a Mac one either, and personally I prefer it to feel like an application instead of having to run it inside a browser. Kind of hoping Flutter helps advance the situation of cross-platform desktop/web things in a positive way.
  - solarkraft 6y ago
    > In Firefox, I can even go "full screen" You mean hiding the browser chrome? Becuase I've been looking for a decent way to do this for years. Do you use a profile for every app? My rationale against this is that I'd like to share the plugins and settings.
judge2020 6y ago
Their focus seems to be full-on installable PWAs for everything, which YT Music and YT TV already having them (and PWAs are only marginally better than Electron since they all share the same parent chrome process).
- imtringued 6y ago
  If they share the same process then they are better by orders of magnitude in terms of memory usage. Although not everything should be a PWA, you can still write good PWAs if you want to.
kelnos 6y ago
I uninstalled Slack's desktop "app" a long time ago and never looked back. The browser version is much better, and doesn't require me to have an extra (often buggy, in my experience) browser instance open in order to use it. Calling it an "app" is somewhat laughable, since it's just their website packaged up in a standalone web browser, plus a minimal amount of platform-specific glue.
- tudorconstantin 6y ago
  I am not able to screenshare in slack from browser on Linux, only from the electron app.

by awill 6y ago

Google needs to release desktop apps in Flutter (Youtube Music, Chat, Meet etc..). a Webapp is fine for occasional use, but Google Chat can't compete with Slack without a real app.

spankalee 6y ago

Totally. You definitely can't compete against Slack's desktop app with web technologies: https://slack.engineering/building-hybrid-applications-with-electron-dc67686de5fb https://slack.engineering/building-hybrid-applications-with-...

dahfizz 6y ago
Personally I can't tell the difference between the slack app and slack open in my browser. It is literally identical. In Firefox, I can even go "full screen" but still control the size and location of the window, so I don't have to look at the tab bar. Side by side, I can't tell them apart visually or functionally. Maybe the Linux version of electron is neutered in some way? I read article you linked and I don't know what bouncing the dock means, maybe that's an important native feature for mac users?
- jeffbee 6y ago
  Slack in the browser is visibly superior to the slack app. When I close the tab it's really dead. Great feature. The slack "app" is just their web site and a web browser zipped together in such a way that it doesn't actually quit when you tell it to quit. Why anyone wants that I cannot begin to imagine.
  - sciurus 6y ago
    I'm not sure what you mean. On OS X quitting the app certainly seems to actually quit it
    - jeffbee 6y ago
      """By default, your app is set to keep running in the notifications area even when the window is closed. Choosing not to leave the app running will remove the Slack icon and badges from your notifications area."""
      - applecrazy 6y ago
        On macOS, closing all an app’s windows ≠ quitting an application. When you Command-Q Slack, it should close completely (which afaik it does).
        jeffbee 6y ago
        Great, that is a platform that exists, that I bet has almost 10% of Slack's market share.
      - sciurus 6y ago
        But that's normal for all apps on OS X. Closing their window doesn't mean quitting them. I'm not sure why you'd fault Slack for following the OS's conventions here. To quit it, choose that from it's menu or use the cmnd-q shortcut IIRC.
  - mathw 6y ago
    Slack is behaving in the same way as innumerable instant messaging clients in the past, because they consider themselves in that category rather than perhaps in an IRC sort of category which is maybe where you see them? And there's an option to turn that behaviour off, if you don't like it. But I would prefer if it wasn't all Electron because it really does feel like the resource overhead is unnecessary. But if it wasn't done with this tech, we probably wouldn't have a Linux client at all, and maybe not a Mac one either, and personally I prefer it to feel like an application instead of having to run it inside a browser. Kind of hoping Flutter helps advance the situation of cross-platform desktop/web things in a positive way.
- solarkraft 6y ago
  > In Firefox, I can even go "full screen" You mean hiding the browser chrome? Becuase I've been looking for a decent way to do this for years. Do you use a profile for every app? My rationale against this is that I'd like to share the plugins and settings.

judge2020 6y ago

Their focus seems to be full-on installable PWAs for everything, which YT Music and YT TV already having them (and PWAs are only marginally better than Electron since they all share the same parent chrome process).

imtringued 6y ago
If they share the same process then they are better by orders of magnitude in terms of memory usage. Although not everything should be a PWA, you can still write good PWAs if you want to.

kelnos 6y ago

I uninstalled Slack's desktop "app" a long time ago and never looked back. The browser version is much better, and doesn't require me to have an extra (often buggy, in my experience) browser instance open in order to use it. Calling it an "app" is somewhat laughable, since it's just their website packaged up in a standalone web browser, plus a minimal amount of platform-specific glue.

tudorconstantin 6y ago
I am not able to screenshare in slack from browser on Linux, only from the electron app.