Ask HN: Anyone making a living building desktop applications? • Hacker News Board

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

#251

Post by ripley12 » Sat, Jan 22, 2022, 3:27 AM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #155

MangoCoffee wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what Microsoft fat client technology are you using? the current problem for me with Microsoft fat client is there are too much options and no clear one that Microsoft will support long term.

Yea, I develop a hobby project targeting desktop Mac (Objective C GUI, C++ business logic) and I’m not sure what Windows technology I should use should I ever decide to port to Windows. There are so many and they are all in various stages of unsupported. C#? C++? .NET? Win32? MFC? WPF? XAML? WinForms? UWP? Maybe just give up on trying to read the future and use Qt. Fucking madness!

It's a mess.

If pressed I would say WinForms is the most practical choice for most apps today - even though it sucks, even though it's ugly. It's actively worked on (unlike WPF) and it lets you use the latest .NET version.

WebView2 (better Electron) is probably where most Windows development is going in the future, the Windows team is investing a heck of a lot more in it than other technologies.

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

#252

Post by mikewarot » Sat, Jan 22, 2022, 3:37 AM UTC

makz wrote: 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 In contrast to web applications there are not many resources out there and most seem outdated.

Try Lazarus/Free pascal. It's an open source clone of Delphi, and targets a wide variety of systems.

https://www.lazarus-ide.org/

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

#253

Post by mikewarot » Sat, Jan 22, 2022, 3:39 AM UTC

mrkentutbabi wrote: post #73

Desktop apps could be be doomed in walled garden.

Desktop programs don't require permission from an app store, so there's no wall.

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

#254

Post by tkgally » Sat, Jan 22, 2022, 3:39 AM UTC

eps wrote: post #8

Plenty of people do this. Go onto any software listing site (eg. Softpedia or AlternativeTo), pick a not-a-brandname commercial product and chances are that it will be a single-person project. From things that are really well-polished and look like a team effort to pimped-up crappy weekend projects. Lots and lots are made and run by a single individual. Whether they sell well is an altogether different question, but…

There are a lot of shareware or shareware-like desktop Mac apps that I have been relying on for many years. The programs continue to be updated regularly and don’t seem to be hobby projects, so I assume the developers are supporting themselves. Some are sold through Apple’s App Store, and some are sold directly by the developer.

Here are the ones that I use most and the companies that develop them:

Fission; Audio Hijack (Rogue Amoeba): https://www.rogueamoeba.com

Amadeus Pro (HairerSoft): https://www.hairersoft.com/index.html

Transmit (Panic): https://panic.com

Jedit Ω (Artman 21): http://www.artman21.com/en/

BBEdit (Bare Bones): https://www.barebones.com

GraphicConverter (Lemke Software): https://www.lemkesoft.de/

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

#255

Post by solideights » Sat, Jan 22, 2022, 3:55 AM UTC

I make a partial living with cross-platform, native desktop software (C++) ( e.g., https://www.phototangler.com ). That one is sold primarily to individuals, sales vary greatly month to month, and in general seems to slow down a bit each year. Beyond my own web site, I've managed to get that one on Steam and the Microsoft store, but neither of those move too many units.

My personal experience with selling other desktop apps over the years (many of which are now discontinued) has been that either people would pay for it (at all) or they wouldn't, after which it's mostly a matter of marketing to get more eyes on it. That is, I've had several other apps that didn't sell a single copy no matter how much traffic they received. And for the ones that do sell, doing targeted ad campaigns can definitely drive sales up, but in turn can be pretty expensive.

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

#256

Post by fayten » Sat, Jan 22, 2022, 4:43 AM UTC

semireg wrote: post #226

bachmeier wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't yet support Linux because out of thousands of users, only 2 people have emailed about Linux support (probably both from HN!). That's certainly not the trend. Evernote has even released a Linux app after all these years. And for good reason - the Chromebook market. Hey is another.

AFAIK, there is no support for electron apps on chromeOS.

I installed beekeeper[1], an electron AppImage, this afternoon on a 11th gen Acer spin 713 chromebook. You just need to have linux support enabled in the Dev settings. Only newer, higher end chromebooks have the linux support feature. I prefer dbeaver, but there appears to be some kind of GTK dpi scaling issue with it.

1.https://www.beekeeperstudio.io/

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

#257

Post by cc101 » Sat, Jan 22, 2022, 4:47 AM UTC

I'm glad someone is making money. I'm not. I spent 5 years writing a unified workflow for folks writing a research paper/thesis/dissertation (Epiphany Workflow, Apple's App Store).

It begins with collecting ideas from websites and files, moves the ideas into an outliner, then supports organizing relevant ideas according to a report outline, and finally, supports reviewing relevant ideas while the user writes each section of the report.

I gave away 850 free copies that were good for a year and sold a couple dozen copies. I'm trying Reddit ads now. Zero success. It's daunting. I'm struggling and depressed. It's a damn good application, but I can't find a way to reach my audience.

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

#258

Post by jslaby » Sat, Jan 22, 2022, 4:50 AM UTC

grujicd wrote: post #186

rozab wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you looked into .NET MAUI yet? I'm cautiously optimistic, but haven't dug into it. Should be releasing Q2 this year. https://github.com/dotnet/maui

MAUI doesn't seem to have Linux support for now. There are some community efforts but nothing here yet. That pretty much kills multiplatform aspect. At least for category of server management tools where my product belongs. Ok, Win + Mac is better than Win only, but if I have to redo entire app it should better support Linux as well. Also, it's hard to bet on a new MS GUI framework, when they released and abandoned s…

I built an app on Silverlight that I sold for Windows and Mac and was making pretty decent money, until MS ended support. I looked into QT as a replacement, but couldn't get a replacement app finished in time. I will never trust MS multi-platform gui again.

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

#259

Post by exodust » Sat, Jan 22, 2022, 5:12 AM UTC

DizzyDoo wrote: post #173

optymizer wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Congrats on releasing games on Steam! I'd like at some point quit my job and run a small game studio. I have so many questions, mostly out of curiosity. If you could answer the ones you're comfortable with, I'd appreciate it: * What's your tech stack for the games? Are you using an engine? * Who made the art? If you did it yourself, what software are you using? * How was the process for releasing your game on Steam?…

Mostly Unity and C#, I still use Python for bits and pieces (see my other comment). I made and make all the art myself, just painting in Photoshop, animating in the wonderful Spine by Esoteric Software (great tool that's worth every penny), and do all my video and audio editing in DaVinci Resolve (I used to use Adobe AfterEffects but the monthly fee was just too high for me). I also use Blender for any 3D work (I use…

> I used to use Modo, but again, the monthly fee was too high

With Modo they do offer a perpetual license option where you can keep using the last version you paid for.

Thanks for your insights into your process. I agree, DaVinci Resolve is an excellent replacement for Adobe. I got the Speed Controller deal last year, it's nice having the jog/shuttle wheel and buttons.

Deciding what price to set games must be difficult. I'm in Australia, and the price of your cat game is $21.50. Even though that's equivalent to a large pizza and drink, it's steep for an indie puzzle game. I wonder whether a game like this would sell more and profit more if the price were $5 instead of $20.

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

#260

Post by jspann » Sat, Jan 22, 2022, 5:16 AM UTC

cc101 wrote: post #257

I'm glad someone is making money. I'm not. I spent 5 years writing a unified workflow for folks writing a research paper/thesis/dissertation (Epiphany Workflow, Apple's App Store). It begins with collecting ideas from websites and files, moves the ideas into an outliner, then supports organizing relevant ideas according to a report outline, and finally, supports reviewing relevant ideas while the user writes each sec…

First off, congrats on getting your idea out into a tangible product. Many people come up with ideas, even fewer take time, or have the skills, to try to actually build them, but you put in time and effort that made it to the end goal of putting it on the App Store. Not everyone makes it that far so congratulations on doing so.

I took a look because, as a current student, I often have to write research papers and tag ideas from multiple websites and sources. I think the cost is a little steep for Mac apps in general, let alone anything a student might want to trial. The question students are asking is "How much can I spend to improve my research paper skills?" $40 is comparable to a night out with friends or several meals and might turn off any potential customers.

Looking at the promotional screenshots for the application, I don't get a gist for what the application is or does. The actual images of the application are smaller than the text describing what is in the application. It's also not clear from those descriptions what the benefits of the application are. I'm not sure what a "structured workflow" is but maybe giving a juxtaposition between the traditional way a student might try to organize a paper and Epiphany's way might help students visualize how they could use the application themselves.

Lastly, the website[1] needs more examples and demonstrations of the application in action. I still can't tell what I would gain from spending $40 on a Mac app. To use an example, none of my friends are willing to buy the Things app[2] at $9 on iOS or $49 because they can get other apps that do the same thing for free. It's a price comparison game and there needs to be more discussion around what can be gained with this app over a competitor.

I hope this helps and I wish you well with your application.

[1]: https://epiphanyworkflow.work [2]: https://culturedcode.com/things/