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The fact that browser apps replaced desktop apps eventually kind of proves that the same on mobile is inevitable once computing power and efficiency is sufficie

The fact that browser apps replaced desktop apps eventually kind of proves that the same on mobile is inevitable once computing power and efficiency is sufficient. Unless mobile vendors put up artificial barriers on functionality of web apps (Apple). At a certain hardware level, UX is not perceptibly different between native and Web based, yet development much easier with cross platform target

teakettle42 5y ago
> The fact that browser apps replaced desktop apps eventually They did? I mean, I'm forced to use crap browser apps for work (i.e. Slack), but it's very early to be declaring the desktop app dead. > At a certain hardware level, UX is not perceptibly different between native and Web based ... Hard disagree. > ... yet development much easier with cross platform target Well, yes. There we can finally agree. It's all about cost; hiring cheap web developers to churn out something acceptable, if never good.
- RC_ITR 5y ago
  This is a classic 'My job is X, so I presume people doing Y also have the same experience" Software developers and PM's can generally get by with a browser, but woah boy good luck getting the finance world off of desktop Excel/Bloomberg (as the most prominent example of an immovable force against browser apps).
  - happymellon 5y ago
    But even folks in the "happy path", of using VS Code and Slack find that the web apps are slow and terrible. The only people who seem to think this is any good appear to be in their 20's and not actually experienced with desktop apps.
    - testbjjl 5y ago
      > The only people who seem to think this is any good appear to be in their 20's and not actually experienced with desktop apps. So it’s just a matter of time until this swing of the pendulum is complete. Then we can rediscover Qt and Tcl/Tk.
      - ungamedplayer 5y ago
        Oh happy days.
happymellon 5y ago
> The fact that browser apps replaced desktop apps eventually kind of proves that the same on mobile is inevitable once computing power and efficiency is sufficient Let me know when the power is there for the desktops. My MacBook M1 Pro chokes a lot due to running Teams, Slack, VS Code all wanting to be desktop webapps and are highly inefficient. I have to use a proper desktop to get everything running smoothly together.
- adam_arthur 5y ago
  VS Code seems quite fast to me There's a reason software trends towards higher level, less performant abstractions over time. The takes about chrome being a memory hog or electron being inherently slow are very tired at this point
  - saagarjha 5y ago
    You might be tired of them, but that doesn't mean they're wrong.
    - adam_arthur 5y ago
      And garbage collected languages are slower than managed ones. Should we avoid garbage collected languages for all software then? It's just demonstrates a very poor grasp of what actually matters in the world. And the performance gap is greatly exaggerated. Most people would agree VS Code is very snappy, and it's written in JS and browser based. There's no inherent reason they have to be slow. And we don't double the RAM in computers every few years to leave it unused
      - happymellon 5y ago
        I only know internet commentators to talk about how VS Code is fast enough. In meat space, no one has ever said that VS Code is performant, just that it is free and X company has standardised on it.
      - newaccount74 5y ago
chrisandchris 5y ago
> The fact that browser apps replaced desktop apps eventually kind of proves that the same on mobile is inevitable once computing power and efficiency is sufficient. IMHO, replacing something != proving something. We may have replaced desktop apps with browser-based apps somewhere, but that does not prove anything. I'm looking at a lot of professional software, that just won't perform as a browser app (or work at all) in the near future. And then I look at a lot of crap browser-based software (like MS Teams) that makes me wonder whether this was actually an advancement, because it absolutely does not feel like it. It's UX is just miserable and so slow.
- adam_arthur 5y ago
  It's proven in the sense that there is freedom to choose to write a native desktop client, and yet nobody does it anymore, regardless of how widely adopted or important their app is to the business. It's enough proof for me, at least. Native apps continue to exist for areas where browser APIs aren't sufficient yet, that's true. But those will get replaced once a sufficient API supports it
  - chrisandchris 5y ago
    I partly agree, but I disagree at the point that there may be no correlation between the amount of non-native apps and the overall "happiness" of users. Just because business see that it's cheaper does not make it the better option.
    - plater 5y ago
      Also from a user perspective there are many benefits with a software that exists on many platforms. It's often better with a slightly less good/snappy app that runs on all platforms than a perfect app than runs only on one platform. It's a feature. It could also be said that it's a feature that the app does not 100% follow the native UI as the experience will be the same irrespective of which OS you are on.
      - 5y ago
jamil7 5y ago
> The fact that browser apps replaced desktop apps eventually kind of proves that the same on mobile is inevitable I'm not sure whether it's that black and white. If you've worked on both platforms you know how much of a different beast mobile is, it's a lot less forgiving in a lot of aspects. The use cases and interaction model is very different.

teakettle42 5y ago

> The fact that browser apps replaced desktop apps eventually They did? I mean, I'm forced to use crap browser apps for work (i.e. Slack), but it's very early to be declaring the desktop app dead. > At a certain hardware level, UX is not perceptibly different between native and Web based ... Hard disagree. > ... yet development much easier with cross platform target Well, yes. There we can finally agree. It's all about cost; hiring cheap web developers to churn out something acceptable, if never good.

RC_ITR 5y ago
This is a classic 'My job is X, so I presume people doing Y also have the same experience" Software developers and PM's can generally get by with a browser, but woah boy good luck getting the finance world off of desktop Excel/Bloomberg (as the most prominent example of an immovable force against browser apps).
- happymellon 5y ago
  But even folks in the "happy path", of using VS Code and Slack find that the web apps are slow and terrible. The only people who seem to think this is any good appear to be in their 20's and not actually experienced with desktop apps.
  - testbjjl 5y ago
    > The only people who seem to think this is any good appear to be in their 20's and not actually experienced with desktop apps. So it’s just a matter of time until this swing of the pendulum is complete. Then we can rediscover Qt and Tcl/Tk.
    - ungamedplayer 5y ago
      Oh happy days.

happymellon 5y ago

> The fact that browser apps replaced desktop apps eventually kind of proves that the same on mobile is inevitable once computing power and efficiency is sufficient Let me know when the power is there for the desktops. My MacBook M1 Pro chokes a lot due to running Teams, Slack, VS Code all wanting to be desktop webapps and are highly inefficient. I have to use a proper desktop to get everything running smoothly together.

adam_arthur 5y ago
VS Code seems quite fast to me There's a reason software trends towards higher level, less performant abstractions over time. The takes about chrome being a memory hog or electron being inherently slow are very tired at this point
- saagarjha 5y ago
  You might be tired of them, but that doesn't mean they're wrong.
  - adam_arthur 5y ago
    And garbage collected languages are slower than managed ones. Should we avoid garbage collected languages for all software then? It's just demonstrates a very poor grasp of what actually matters in the world. And the performance gap is greatly exaggerated. Most people would agree VS Code is very snappy, and it's written in JS and browser based. There's no inherent reason they have to be slow. And we don't double the RAM in computers every few years to leave it unused
    - happymellon 5y ago
      I only know internet commentators to talk about how VS Code is fast enough. In meat space, no one has ever said that VS Code is performant, just that it is free and X company has standardised on it.
    - newaccount74 5y ago

chrisandchris 5y ago

> The fact that browser apps replaced desktop apps eventually kind of proves that the same on mobile is inevitable once computing power and efficiency is sufficient. IMHO, replacing something != proving something. We may have replaced desktop apps with browser-based apps somewhere, but that does not prove anything. I'm looking at a lot of professional software, that just won't perform as a browser app (or work at all) in the near future. And then I look at a lot of crap browser-based software (like MS Teams) that makes me wonder whether this was actually an advancement, because it absolutely does not feel like it. It's UX is just miserable and so slow.

adam_arthur 5y ago
It's proven in the sense that there is freedom to choose to write a native desktop client, and yet nobody does it anymore, regardless of how widely adopted or important their app is to the business. It's enough proof for me, at least. Native apps continue to exist for areas where browser APIs aren't sufficient yet, that's true. But those will get replaced once a sufficient API supports it
- chrisandchris 5y ago
  I partly agree, but I disagree at the point that there may be no correlation between the amount of non-native apps and the overall "happiness" of users. Just because business see that it's cheaper does not make it the better option.
  - plater 5y ago
    Also from a user perspective there are many benefits with a software that exists on many platforms. It's often better with a slightly less good/snappy app that runs on all platforms than a perfect app than runs only on one platform. It's a feature. It could also be said that it's a feature that the app does not 100% follow the native UI as the experience will be the same irrespective of which OS you are on.
    - 5y ago

jamil7 5y ago

> The fact that browser apps replaced desktop apps eventually kind of proves that the same on mobile is inevitable I'm not sure whether it's that black and white. If you've worked on both platforms you know how much of a different beast mobile is, it's a lot less forgiving in a lot of aspects. The use cases and interaction model is very different.