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Ask HN: Anyone making a living building desktop applications?

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141–150 of 361 posts

Re: Ask HN: Anyone making a living building desktop applications?

#141
Yes, consulting for enterprises doing desktop stuff for laboratory and factory automation is still a thing, specially in air gaped environments.

Stuff like this, https://www.biotek.com/

I have done WPF and Windows Forms for companies using such kind of hardware.

Qt is the major alternative for these customers.

Also note that iPads and Android tablets with plugged monitors are a kind of desktops.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone making a living building desktop applications?

#142
post #17

I work on a desktop budgeting application. I love that it's desktop-only (and so do the users)! It doesn't earn a living (yet), but it makes more than enough to cover expenses. [0] https://www.budgetwithbuckets.com

Why would I want to sit at my computer to manage my budget instead of being able to access it anywhere? I always have a “computer in my pocket”.

Some things are just a pain in the ass to do on a mobile phone I guess. Budgeting sounds like it would be.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone making a living building desktop applications?

#143

I have worked professionally for a company that made desktop apps for film production (VFX), and also internally for studios in their R&D departments and those were also almost entirely desktop based. Outside of professional work, I’ve jumped right back in to Ham radio over the Corona times, there are lots of desktop applications in use there (DSP mainly) but usability and support for hardware (both devices, and plat…

It is interesting that there are many ham apps that are single person developed and closed source, but free to download. It's weird how open source is not ubiquitous in that hobby. This leaves lots off ageing, quirky software out there.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone making a living building desktop applications?

#144
post #33

Related question. How to start to develop desktop applications? In contrast to web applications there are not many resources out there and most seem outdated.

Download Visual Studio Community Edition and go to New Project -> WPF project and start learning C#. That's probably the path forward with the best chance of overall success.

This as opposed to cross-platform? Any general use case or for a targets Windows user base?

Re: Ask HN: Anyone making a living building desktop applications?

#145
post #6

The guy from Inkdrop [0] makes a living with his note-taking app. He also has a YouTube channel [1] which I found very relaxing. [0] https://www.inkdrop.app [1] https://www.youtube.com/c/devaslife

I follow him on YT. His videos have an amazing aesthetics, and the tech content displayed is simple mind blogging to me as a non-tech person.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone making a living building desktop applications?

#146
I work at Veeam, our main product (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veeam_Backup_%26_Replication) is a WPF desktop app. Some of the newer/smaller ones are web(react) based. UI is of course just a small part of all the stuff that goes in a large B2B/Enterprise app, but technically it's a desktop app. Also, FWIW, we do subscription licensing, so I don't think it's a real dichotomy.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone making a living building desktop applications?

#147
Yes, but the desktop computer is typically attached to a $250k piece of custom industrial automation, the fact that there's 200 hours of C# programming for the HMI/ERP client/label printer/data logger is irrelevant to the customer, it's just a line item next to the PLC/robot programming, raw materials, welding, fabrication, wiring etc. Add some Beckhoff, Siemens or (yuck) Rockwell capacity to your stack - buy a used EK1100 and some IO cards off eBay, download TwinCat 3, and add that to your resume and you'll be able to build B2B products for a lot of places.

There are a surprising number of "controls engineering only" shops, it's not clear to me how that kind of business works out logistically when so much of the software requires certain kinds performance from the hardware and vice versa.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone making a living building desktop applications?

#148

We sell a desktop app with an involvement in dev and support of about 0.25-0.50 FTE, with revenues in the range of $50K/month although it was launched 9 years ago and the first year was only about $2K/month. The server side is just one Windows 4GB server for user signups, billing and license validation. One good thing of desktop apps is that the server side is so cheap, you are basically selling IP. It has this featu…

I'd love to connect to compare notes. I'm well on way to $50k/month, but I have a feeling I can attain that revenue without a few of your bullet points.

* B2B niche - agreed, this is essential

* Viral component - I wish I could make label printing viral... but I feel like I'm dealing in the "colonoscopy of software" with my app

* Only subscription - I agree this maximizes revenue, but I find subscriptions user-hostile, so I also sell a one-time license

* Subscription expiration - obviously essential

* Generous trial - agreed, essential

Re: Ask HN: Anyone making a living building desktop applications?

#149
post #81

Yes and no. I'm an employee so it doesn't really matter, but my side-project desktop apps pay well enough that I could live off them if I go for a student lifestyle (no pricey events, no restaurants, cooking yourself, cleaning yourself). It was a long way. I started in the Pro Audio niche and initially supported Windows, Linux, Mac. Over time, I learned the hard way that supporting Apple's constantly changing OS is v…

cleaning yourself I did not realize this was a mark of the student life. Who knew I was still a student at age 49?

I, too, am a couple of pay raises away from paying someone else to clean me

Re: Ask HN: Anyone making a living building desktop applications?

#150
Working on https://folge.me app for creating documentation and step by step guides ( basically an advanced screenshot tool with editor and many export options). One-time license, and no recurring charges, app brings in around 400-500 EUR (500-600 USD) per month.
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