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desktop does not imply "not SaaS". I'll add that today most desktop apps are headless Chrome. that being said, I actually do web, but were I to go desktop I wou

desktop does not imply "not SaaS". I'll add that today most desktop apps are headless Chrome. that being said, I actually do web, but were I to go desktop I would look for a niche that can't be done in browser, even though today you already got access to most APIs & hardware...

jventura 5y ago
> I would look for a niche that can't be done in browser What kind of niches would that be, beside audio/video and other cpu intensive things?
- pavlov 5y ago
  Anything that touches a lot of files?
  - jventura 5y ago
    Ok, but what kind of business niche would that be? You can also touch a lot of files on a webserver, although it would be a pain to upload them.
    - fsloth 5y ago
      For example file management. "Directory opus" is a windows desktop 'better explorer' in this category (I have bought a license myself, it's pretty darn good).
    - pavlov 5y ago
      Sure, a lot of people keep their stuff on somebody else's servers — a.k.a. the cloud — but there are still users who have plenty of local files: music, photos, code... That's a wide range of users, so I don't have a specific product idea, but seems like some kind of opportunity may exist in this niche. (If I had a product idea, I'd probably try making it myself — native desktop apps are much more fun to make than web.)
      - andai 5y ago
        >native desktop apps are much more fun to make than web This has also been my experience, and I am curious what the reasons are. Does it have to do with the quality of the end result, or the process of development?
- ducharmdev 5y ago
  On my current team we work on a cashiering desktop app, that needs to interact with local devices for processing checks and credit cards. Although almost everything reaches out to an API at some point, I'd generally say desktop apps are still relevant in cases like this.
  - eldelshell 5y ago
    Bluetooth PoS printers are a bitch to work with and good luck doing that from JS.
- Wistar 5y ago
  Something that requires absolute real time responsiveness?
  - emteycz 5y ago
    There are web-based (in browser) CADs and DAWs... What sort of application would be more demanding?
    - Wistar 5y ago
      I am not sure. Something that has a lot of back and forth with peripherals?
- amerkhalid 5y ago
  Pretty much any webapp can be replaced with local desktop app for security and privacy concise people. Some of things I wish had desktop version: 1. CRM - I don't want to store private customer data on 3rd party servers. 2. Budgeting app - Used to use Quicken but it moved to web and I switched to Mint because it is free. I tried some free opensource apps but experience was not smooth. So I am sticking with Mint for now. 3. Trade analysis apps - Sites like TradingView or TraderVue are great but I don't want to put too much effort in there. I rather have my trading data stored locally on my machine. As a programmer, I export CSVs and run them in local Jupyter notebooks but I think a more user friendly version should be high in demand.
- Turing_Machine 5y ago
  Stuff that needs low-level access to the file system. You can now handle that at a crude level with web form file uploads and generating dynamic data URLs for download, but it's still not as smooth as using the native file system. Edit: one example would be a file backup system. There's no way you want to make the user manually select and upload every single file on the HD for something like that, and (for obvious reasons) there's no way for a web app to scan the disk and read arbitrary files.
jrockway 5y ago
I agree with that. Things like Fusion 360 are both desktop apps and SaaS. The desktop app checks that you have a subscription before it will let you use it, and various cloud things nobody wants are forced in. (Photoshop has a similar business model, now that I think about. Everyone wants to be a cloud storage provider instead of just taking money in exchange for a piece of software.)
bqmjjx0kac 5y ago
> I'll add that today most desktop apps are headless Chrome Hmm, I don't follow — Headless Chrome is Chrome without the GUI. That doesn't sound so useful as a desktop app.

jventura 5y ago

> I would look for a niche that can't be done in browser What kind of niches would that be, beside audio/video and other cpu intensive things?

pavlov 5y ago
Anything that touches a lot of files?
- jventura 5y ago
  Ok, but what kind of business niche would that be? You can also touch a lot of files on a webserver, although it would be a pain to upload them.
  - fsloth 5y ago
    For example file management. "Directory opus" is a windows desktop 'better explorer' in this category (I have bought a license myself, it's pretty darn good).
  - pavlov 5y ago
    Sure, a lot of people keep their stuff on somebody else's servers — a.k.a. the cloud — but there are still users who have plenty of local files: music, photos, code... That's a wide range of users, so I don't have a specific product idea, but seems like some kind of opportunity may exist in this niche. (If I had a product idea, I'd probably try making it myself — native desktop apps are much more fun to make than web.)
    - andai 5y ago
      >native desktop apps are much more fun to make than web This has also been my experience, and I am curious what the reasons are. Does it have to do with the quality of the end result, or the process of development?
ducharmdev 5y ago
On my current team we work on a cashiering desktop app, that needs to interact with local devices for processing checks and credit cards. Although almost everything reaches out to an API at some point, I'd generally say desktop apps are still relevant in cases like this.
- eldelshell 5y ago
  Bluetooth PoS printers are a bitch to work with and good luck doing that from JS.
Wistar 5y ago
Something that requires absolute real time responsiveness?
- emteycz 5y ago
  There are web-based (in browser) CADs and DAWs... What sort of application would be more demanding?
  - Wistar 5y ago
    I am not sure. Something that has a lot of back and forth with peripherals?
amerkhalid 5y ago
Pretty much any webapp can be replaced with local desktop app for security and privacy concise people. Some of things I wish had desktop version: 1. CRM - I don't want to store private customer data on 3rd party servers. 2. Budgeting app - Used to use Quicken but it moved to web and I switched to Mint because it is free. I tried some free opensource apps but experience was not smooth. So I am sticking with Mint for now. 3. Trade analysis apps - Sites like TradingView or TraderVue are great but I don't want to put too much effort in there. I rather have my trading data stored locally on my machine. As a programmer, I export CSVs and run them in local Jupyter notebooks but I think a more user friendly version should be high in demand.
Turing_Machine 5y ago
Stuff that needs low-level access to the file system. You can now handle that at a crude level with web form file uploads and generating dynamic data URLs for download, but it's still not as smooth as using the native file system. Edit: one example would be a file backup system. There's no way you want to make the user manually select and upload every single file on the HD for something like that, and (for obvious reasons) there's no way for a web app to scan the disk and read arbitrary files.

jrockway 5y ago

I agree with that. Things like Fusion 360 are both desktop apps and SaaS. The desktop app checks that you have a subscription before it will let you use it, and various cloud things nobody wants are forced in. (Photoshop has a similar business model, now that I think about. Everyone wants to be a cloud storage provider instead of just taking money in exchange for a piece of software.)

bqmjjx0kac 5y ago

> I'll add that today most desktop apps are headless Chrome Hmm, I don't follow — Headless Chrome is Chrome without the GUI. That doesn't sound so useful as a desktop app.