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> electron > linux support is native Whoever told you that Electron means native Linux is lying to you. It's as native to Linux as a web app is native to Wind

> electron > linux support is native Whoever told you that Electron means native Linux is lying to you. It's as native to Linux as a web app is native to Windows or Mac; that is: it's just run in a glorified browser.

hutzlibu 5y ago
native is probably an exxageration. But it means (in theory) the same experience on all plattforms. And in my opinion, a working linux electron app beats a buggy wine ported version by far. Because this is usually the choice. The linux market is way too small and unwilling to spend much money, than to justify a common software developer to spend the effort of porting.
- Arch-TK 5y ago
  >unwilling to spend much money Citation needed. I think for years humble indie bundle kept statistics and linux supporters were always chipping in well above average.
  - hutzlibu 5y ago
    I know, but would doubt, that they are represantive of the common linux user.
- JohnFen 5y ago
  > Because this is usually the choice. Interesting. I don't seem to be lacking software to do everything I want to do in Linux without having to use Wine. Also, I've spent more money buying Linux software than any other platform.
- inetknght 5y ago
  > But it means (in theory) the same experience on all plattforms. That's quite the opposite of native since each platform has a host of unique features and capabilities. Guaranteeing the same experience on all platforms is guaranteeing that you're not using the platforms natively.
- Piskvorrr 5y ago
  Same experience on all platforms. Sure. Nowhere does that imply "a good experience on any one of those platforms"...I am reminded of early (1.4) Java, just an order of magnitude worse.
- somewhatbetter 5y ago
  >The linux market is way too small Maybe just amybe having 6*10^23 distributions wasn't that great idea.
michaelmrose 5y ago
A tab on a browser the user is already running would cost less memory and CPU. It's also with chrome super easy to open a page without the normal browser UI that looks like an app add a .desktop file and presto it's an app it would actually be superior in many respects.
- inetknght 5y ago
  > It's also with chrome super easy to open a page without the normal browser UI that looks like an app Yeah that's what Electron is. > add a .desktop file and presto it's an app So Chrome has turned the .url into a .desktop and ruined what .desktop means. Neat. > it would actually be superior in many respects Few, not many. And those respects are garbage because it's a still a web app masquerading as something it's not.
  - michaelmrose 5y ago
    Electron is like its own possibly out of data copy of chromium packaged with other resources. This means that it shares little with the installed browser and will consume 300MB-1GB of ram itself. I do not suggest a web app is an adequate replacement for a native application but rather that a website may be a superior alternative to electron as it uses fewer resources while providing a similar UI for some applications.
horsawlarway 5y ago
It's native as in supported directly by the company making the software. It's not some random 3rd party that's trying to implement a buggy client or wrapper. At risk of being shut down at any moment, and probably violating the company's terms of use. (which is a whole different conversation around the sad reality of interoperable software today) --- It's native in the sense that I, as a developer employed by a company using it, can easily drop in a linux release without having to have a long drawn out cost/benefits analysis trying to convince PMs that we should do it, because it's not months or years of additional work - it's some manifest file tweaks to get icons in, and possibly some additional signing scripts to be run during the final packaging. --- It's not native in the sense that it directly uses OS specific APIs, but who gives a flying fuck? Seriously. I spend 95% of my time in a browser or a text editor already - "Browser with better system access" is just fine to me. It turns out RAM and disk space are really, REALLY, REALLY fucking cheap. as in - I can get 32gbs of ram for less than the cost of a windows license. So I'll take my linux support, thank you very much. (shocker - I also like mobile web apps, and strongly favor mobile moving that direction as well - For exactly the same reasons).
- criddell 5y ago
  > It's native as in supported directly by the company making the software. Except for the times when that isn't true. Elsewhere in this thread people are complaining about how the Logitech software is Electron based but doesn't work on Linux. > It turns out RAM and disk space are really, REALLY, REALLY fucking cheap. RAM and disk may be cheap and plentiful, but battery power and bandwidth are not. It's why web apps don't make much sense for mobile today.
  - horsawlarway 5y ago
    Web apps are the default access mechanism for basically everything I do on my phone. And by that, I mean - I open chrome/firefox and navigate to the site I'd like to use. I have less than 5 installed apps that I use on my phone directly, and those are almost all exclusively apps that need direct hardware access - Camera - Phone - Maps I also happen to use a few apps to work around sites that are genuinely awful to their mobile users (reddit, for example, is a black whole of dark ux patterns if you open it in a browser without faking your user agent - So I run bacon reader which [ironically] is just another webview running on the device anyways)

hutzlibu 5y ago

native is probably an exxageration. But it means (in theory) the same experience on all plattforms. And in my opinion, a working linux electron app beats a buggy wine ported version by far. Because this is usually the choice. The linux market is way too small and unwilling to spend much money, than to justify a common software developer to spend the effort of porting.

Arch-TK 5y ago
>unwilling to spend much money Citation needed. I think for years humble indie bundle kept statistics and linux supporters were always chipping in well above average.
- hutzlibu 5y ago
  I know, but would doubt, that they are represantive of the common linux user.
JohnFen 5y ago
> Because this is usually the choice. Interesting. I don't seem to be lacking software to do everything I want to do in Linux without having to use Wine. Also, I've spent more money buying Linux software than any other platform.
inetknght 5y ago
> But it means (in theory) the same experience on all plattforms. That's quite the opposite of native since each platform has a host of unique features and capabilities. Guaranteeing the same experience on all platforms is guaranteeing that you're not using the platforms natively.
Piskvorrr 5y ago
Same experience on all platforms. Sure. Nowhere does that imply "a good experience on any one of those platforms"...I am reminded of early (1.4) Java, just an order of magnitude worse.
somewhatbetter 5y ago
>The linux market is way too small Maybe just amybe having 6*10^23 distributions wasn't that great idea.

michaelmrose 5y ago

A tab on a browser the user is already running would cost less memory and CPU. It's also with chrome super easy to open a page without the normal browser UI that looks like an app add a .desktop file and presto it's an app it would actually be superior in many respects.

inetknght 5y ago
> It's also with chrome super easy to open a page without the normal browser UI that looks like an app Yeah that's what Electron is. > add a .desktop file and presto it's an app So Chrome has turned the .url into a .desktop and ruined what .desktop means. Neat. > it would actually be superior in many respects Few, not many. And those respects are garbage because it's a still a web app masquerading as something it's not.
- michaelmrose 5y ago
  Electron is like its own possibly out of data copy of chromium packaged with other resources. This means that it shares little with the installed browser and will consume 300MB-1GB of ram itself. I do not suggest a web app is an adequate replacement for a native application but rather that a website may be a superior alternative to electron as it uses fewer resources while providing a similar UI for some applications.

horsawlarway 5y ago

It's native as in supported directly by the company making the software. It's not some random 3rd party that's trying to implement a buggy client or wrapper. At risk of being shut down at any moment, and probably violating the company's terms of use. (which is a whole different conversation around the sad reality of interoperable software today) --- It's native in the sense that I, as a developer employed by a company using it, can easily drop in a linux release without having to have a long drawn out cost/benefits analysis trying to convince PMs that we should do it, because it's not months or years of additional work - it's some manifest file tweaks to get icons in, and possibly some additional signing scripts to be run during the final packaging. --- It's not native in the sense that it directly uses OS specific APIs, but who gives a flying fuck? Seriously. I spend 95% of my time in a browser or a text editor already - "Browser with better system access" is just fine to me. It turns out RAM and disk space are really, REALLY, REALLY fucking cheap. as in - I can get 32gbs of ram for less than the cost of a windows license. So I'll take my linux support, thank you very much. (shocker - I also like mobile web apps, and strongly favor mobile moving that direction as well - For exactly the same reasons).

criddell 5y ago
> It's native as in supported directly by the company making the software. Except for the times when that isn't true. Elsewhere in this thread people are complaining about how the Logitech software is Electron based but doesn't work on Linux. > It turns out RAM and disk space are really, REALLY, REALLY fucking cheap. RAM and disk may be cheap and plentiful, but battery power and bandwidth are not. It's why web apps don't make much sense for mobile today.
- horsawlarway 5y ago
  Web apps are the default access mechanism for basically everything I do on my phone. And by that, I mean - I open chrome/firefox and navigate to the site I'd like to use. I have less than 5 installed apps that I use on my phone directly, and those are almost all exclusively apps that need direct hardware access - Camera - Phone - Maps I also happen to use a few apps to work around sites that are genuinely awful to their mobile users (reddit, for example, is a black whole of dark ux patterns if you open it in a browser without faking your user agent - So I run bacon reader which [ironically] is just another webview running on the device anyways)