Comment by pjmlp

Comment by pjmlp a day ago

9 replies

Web features being pushed by Google via Chrome, aren't standards, unless everyone actually agrees they are worthy of becoming one.

Shipping Electron junk, strengthens Google and Chrome market presence, and the reference to Web standards, why bother when it is whatever Chrome is capable of.

Web devs with worthy skills of forgotten times, would rather use regular processes alongside the default system browser.

duped a day ago

There are no realistic alternatives to Electron. So calling it "junk" when its the baseline for "cross platform GUI application" is nonsense.

I get that you don't like it, so go build an alternative.

  • johnnyanmac a day ago

    Are we really trying to argue about cross platform GUI in 2025? This was solved decades ago. Just not in ways that are trying to directly appeal to modern webdevs by jamming a browser into every desktop application.

    I don't even hate Electron that much. I'm working on a toy project using Electron right now for various reasons. This was just a bizarre angle to approach from.

  • pjmlp a day ago

    The alternative already exists, processes using the system browser, for several decades now.

    Or actually learn how we use to ship software on the glory days of 8, 16 and 32 bit home platforms.

    Now I do agree there are no alternatives for people that only care about shipping ChromeOS all over the place.

    • JimDabell a day ago

      > The alternative already exists, processes using the system browser, for several decades now.

      Yes, Windows supported Electron-like applications back in the 90s with HTAs. If you want something modern and cross-platform, Tauri does this:

      https://v2.tauri.app

    • duped 14 hours ago

      The system browser doesn't work on iOS, MacOS, or Linux (under certain, but common, conditions).

    • charcircuit a day ago

      You can't trust the system browser to be up to date and secure or for it to render things how you want. You can not guarantee a good user experience unless you ship the browser engine with your app.

      • carlhjerpe 20 hours ago

        Yeah sure but I use most web apps through the browser either way so I'm already in "possibly incompatible land" and you can reasonably expect any user facing device to have an updated browser OR one specific browser in case of embedded. We're not in Windows XP software distribution times anymore.