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Ask HN: Anyone making a living building desktop applications?

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

#351

Post by charlesg63 »

splittingTimes wrote: post #347
charlesg63 wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hello. So I'm the dad with the Dental Wings scanner, which I purchased from Straumann about 7 years ago. I'm using their version of the Dental Wings software. Would this be the same as the software that you're referring to, or is the Straumann version different? I am a dental technician, and I work with general dentists, so I don't take advantage of a lot of the software that's available to me. I do crowns, bridges,…

Hi there. Thanks for being a loyal customer. Yes, your "Cares Visual" Straumann software is just a branded version of our Dental Wings one. In terms of functionality there is no difference, but I think with your version you got by default access to the vast Straumann product portfolio (hundred of implant kits and materials), plus their validated (FDA approved) workflow and access to their centralized milling faciliti…

Thanks so much! I will definitely do that! I have a couple of ideas that would really speed some things up when it comes to case design.

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

#352

Post by optymizer »

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…

Thank you DizzyDoo for the details. It does help to understand what others are doing, so I can maybe emulate the successes and avoid failures ;) I haven't heard of Spine and DaVinci Resolve, I'll look into those. Thank you again and best of luck!

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

#353

Post by oneplane »

pjmlp wrote: post #285
oneplane wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're doing air gapped development (and even single-machine deployments) with web tech by just also including a server component with the client or on the air gapped network. There is one instance where we still use machine control / HMI non-web, and that's when there is no TCP/IP stack available. Doesn't happen that often anymore.

Sure, Electron is also a thing, and even I was on a project where we made use of Web widgets in 2000. It seldom comes up though.

I'm not talking about faking a web app, just use a normal webbrowser and point it to the internal server. It's what we do in industrial automation as well (of course with watchdogs so it doesn't end up displaying a dead page if windows is used and the HTTP channel shits itself).

We did this with meta-refresh and progressive loading (https://blog.codinghorror.com/the-lost-art-of-progressive-ht...) earlier on as well. Benefit is that you get that client-server model without having to do all that much special for the client side, works on any client that has a working browser (even ancient IE5/Netscape4 rendering engines), even embedded systems and weird stuff like NetFront and Opera Mini Java (which runs nearly everywhere).

A lot of actions are essentially reading for status and anomalies, and every now and when adjust or control things (not real-time actuator control like a robotic arm or something like that, that requires hard realtime loops for us), anything bigger than that you'd do on a full desktop style system anyway and you can just use a modern web app in the browser for that. Those then also work on tablets (wallmounts! yay!), PDAs (well mobile phones without modems today) and other devices.

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

#354

Post by Osiris »

ncpa-cpl wrote: post #66
Osiris wrote: post #16

I have a side-project ( https://batterybarpro.com ) that's a native Windows application. It brings in $400-1000 a month.

Hi :) I've been a long time user of Battery Bar Pro. Thank you! Its one of the first apps that I install on my new computers. What would be the best way to do a feature request/bug report?

You can use the Support Forum link on the homepage or on the purchase page there is a reference to my email address (in the bulk purchase section).

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

#355

Post by Osiris »

jorams wrote: post #167
Osiris wrote: post #16

I have a side-project ( https://batterybarpro.com ) that's a native Windows application. It brings in $400-1000 a month.

There's a small error in the Windows 11 warning at the top of the page: > removed the feature the allowed for toolbars Should be that , I presume.

Fixed

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

#356

Post by fvavsc »

DizzyDoo wrote: post #91

I make video games like this one [0] or this one [1]. It's pretty simple, you can buy the game and then download and play it. Are games 'desktop apps'? It's not the language I would normally use but I think it applies. Having been out of the web app development bubble for about seven years now, there's whole industries that work entirely in the pay-for-it-and-then-download model, and while games-as-a-service is more…

This is so amazing. This post and all the thread in it is very inspiring and a proof that one can make living from pretty much any type of development.

I am a web developer and always assumed that you need SaaS or mobile app to make money from programming. But I hate to be responsible for customer data or troubleshoot servers at night.

I might have to look into desktop development and even game development as that was the reason I studied computer science.

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

#357

Post by indigobyte »

We've been developing desktop software for Windows for more than 15 years. Our flagship product is a documentation writing tool, Dr.Explain: https://www.drexplain.com

Although today there are many online tools for help documentation writing, many users still prefer desktop software due to various reasons: from security and reliability, to better performance and better UX.

In the past, we offered only perpetual license with free upgrades within a major version (e.g. 5.1, 5.2, ... etc) Since July 2021, we offer 1-year subscription licenses. So, about a half of year is still required to see how the new licensing model works.

The profit is enough to support a small and agile team though our niche got a bloody ocean and we have to run faster and faster only to stay in the same place.

From my experience, desktop software still works well in vertical and professional niches. In B2C or mass market, mobile and web tread on.

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

#358

Post by muttled »

zupo wrote: post #93

After 15 years of SaaS-ing, myself and two collegues, everyone part-time, are trying to see if we can make a profitable macOS app: https://paretosecurity.com/ . Revenue in last 30 days is $3000+, we started working on it back in July. So, it's something? That said, long-term, we expect to earn more from subscriptions for businesses, than we do from single-user lifetime licenses. But again, ATM, it's the single user l…

How are you marketing this if I might ask?

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

#359

Post by mrleinad »

ak39 wrote: post #74
mrleinad wrote: post #55

I work for a company that sells a niche desktop app for mining companies, called Aegis.[1] Even if the company is planning to implement something web related in the near future, the business is on the desktop and there are no plans on taking it entirely to the web anytime soon. Mining companies prefer it that way, as internet connectivity is not something you can reliably find on site. [1] https://iring.ca

Delphi?

Winforms
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