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I’m not a big fan of this less features ethos. This feature anemic set of software that gets put out more often than not drives me bonkers. It’s as if they don’

I’m not a big fan of this less features ethos. This feature anemic set of software that gets put out more often than not drives me bonkers. It’s as if they don’t want power users.

hulitu 4y ago
They want idiots. And then complain when their users are idiots.
- jxramos 4y ago
  I’ve been daydreaming about the possibility of OS support for semi-arbitrary plugins for apps and how those apps could expose certain things for the plug-in to utilize. It’s a very half-baked idea of mine but I’ve wondered if it’s possible to permit the baseline simplicity of an app while giving an outlet for power users to craft something useful atop them. I’m curious how certain apps even permit a plug in architecture in the first place like vscode extensions etc. What do these apps expose that makes it all possible and is there a way to generalize it to all apps.
  - concordDance 4y ago
    You want open source software.
  - vineyardmike 4y ago
    Like the sibling commented, that’s what open source is for. BUT apple specifically has ExtensionKit, which is a library for arbitrary extensions in arbitrary apps. Of course, the host-app needs to support extensions and build it in. So your theorizing about a way for any app to have a plugin, its there. Many system apps in OSes have this feature, and many more apps (eg vscode) support it. Realistically, web-apps are almost what you want too. Web-apps allow for pretty arbitrary extensions via browser plugins, which can modify the actual UI of the webpage, and make API calls to the backend (by acting as the JavaScript on the page). WebApps are basically open source though (or source available) by nature of how browsers work. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/extensionkit https://developer.apple.com/documentation/extensionkit
moreira 4y ago
More than that - apps start off with less features but after enough rounds of updates they grow into full-featured apps again, until some other app with less features (or a less-featured ground-up rewrite) kills it. It's a really strange (and wholly unnecessary) cycle.

I’m not a big fan of this less features ethos. This feature anemic set of software that gets put out more often than not drives me bonkers. It’s as if they don’t want power users.

hulitu 4y ago

They want idiots. And then complain when their users are idiots.

jxramos 4y ago
I’ve been daydreaming about the possibility of OS support for semi-arbitrary plugins for apps and how those apps could expose certain things for the plug-in to utilize. It’s a very half-baked idea of mine but I’ve wondered if it’s possible to permit the baseline simplicity of an app while giving an outlet for power users to craft something useful atop them. I’m curious how certain apps even permit a plug in architecture in the first place like vscode extensions etc. What do these apps expose that makes it all possible and is there a way to generalize it to all apps.
- concordDance 4y ago
  You want open source software.
- vineyardmike 4y ago
  Like the sibling commented, that’s what open source is for. BUT apple specifically has ExtensionKit, which is a library for arbitrary extensions in arbitrary apps. Of course, the host-app needs to support extensions and build it in. So your theorizing about a way for any app to have a plugin, its there. Many system apps in OSes have this feature, and many more apps (eg vscode) support it. Realistically, web-apps are almost what you want too. Web-apps allow for pretty arbitrary extensions via browser plugins, which can modify the actual UI of the webpage, and make API calls to the backend (by acting as the JavaScript on the page). WebApps are basically open source though (or source available) by nature of how browsers work. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/extensionkit https://developer.apple.com/documentation/extensionkit

moreira 4y ago

More than that - apps start off with less features but after enough rounds of updates they grow into full-featured apps again, until some other app with less features (or a less-featured ground-up rewrite) kills it. It's a really strange (and wholly unnecessary) cycle.