If it needs native integration, use Electron, if not use a Progressive Web App. If it's got to be native go to macOS. The App Store ecosystem makes it way easier to make sales, and there is an expectation of buying quality apps. If you go the Mac route your design needs to be excellent though.
Ask HN: Develop productivity app first for Mac or Windows 10?
41–50 of 52 posts
Re: Ask HN: Develop productivity app first for Mac or Windows 10?
#42If it needs native integration, use Electron, if not use a Progressive Web App. If it's got to be native go to macOS. The App Store ecosystem makes it way easier to make sales, and there is an expectation of buying quality apps. If you go the Mac route your design needs to be excellent though.
I'm not that familiar with PWA's, but how do you monetize them if they are not downloaded from the app store?
Re: Ask HN: Develop productivity app first for Mac or Windows 10?
#43I run a bootstrapped desktop productivity software business myself. I'd say the split is somewhere around 70% Windows and 30% Mac (all self-marketing, no app stores). The mobile rush created a huge vacuum in the desktop market that I think enabled people like me to succeed. Not to mention, you're not giving a 30% cut to Apple or Google and can generally charge more than a few dollars for your app. It's definitely eas…
This is great advice. The HTML/CSS/JavaScript with native browser control is spot on.
Re: Ask HN: Develop productivity app first for Mac or Windows 10?
#44I run a bootstrapped desktop productivity software business myself. I'd say the split is somewhere around 70% Windows and 30% Mac (all self-marketing, no app stores). The mobile rush created a huge vacuum in the desktop market that I think enabled people like me to succeed. Not to mention, you're not giving a 30% cut to Apple or Google and can generally charge more than a few dollars for your app. It's definitely eas…
Don't use Electon. Your users WILL notice and complain about performance.
Is this actually true? Slack and Discord are valued at ~$7B and $2B respectively, and neither have found it necessary to move off their Electron apps. I assume both companies have already evaluated whether Electron's performance impacts their their bottom line, and concluded it does not.
Electron is undoubtedly slower and more resource-intensive than other options, but outside of specific audiences (HN readers) I bet most people won't care.
Re: Ask HN: Develop productivity app first for Mac or Windows 10?
#45I'm an ex-Mac user, and current Windows user. I'd say do Mac first. Mac users are accustomed to and way more likely to pay for apps. Also, people are way more accustomed to buying apps on the Mac App Store than the Windows App Store, so discovery is definitely going to be an issue if you're going the App Store route. On the Windows side, I pay for apps, but because prices tend to be higher for useful Windows apps, I…
Agree with slantyyz... go for the Mac users first. The users tend to be more vested in the apps and you can get good feedback going. Going for a larger audience is not always the best approach especially if you are testing the waters.
Re: Ask HN: Develop productivity app first for Mac or Windows 10?
#46I'd be careful about creating these types of apps because a lot of people (especially developers) value privacy. What your describing is monitoring everything I do on my computer and then likely transmit it to your site. Even if it didn't transmit anything I would still be reluctant to use it unless it were open source. To detect whether or not you're working on what you're supposed to be working on, you'll probably…
Wow, AutoHotkey looks cool - maybe it is nice for doing a first prototype. Yes, I would check the focused windows, but also would take screenshots to evaluate (with OCR/NLP) whether the email you are writing really relates to your todos. I would not store those data, neither locally, nor transmit them to my servers, as I am very concerned about security (if my servers get hacked, then I don't want to have anything se…
Privacy issues aside, re: screenshots, that sounds like a lot of work for a MVP esp when most people are quite happy with a better pommodore or similar solutions.
Re: Ask HN: Develop productivity app first for Mac or Windows 10?
#47I run a bootstrapped desktop productivity software business myself. I'd say the split is somewhere around 70% Windows and 30% Mac (all self-marketing, no app stores). The mobile rush created a huge vacuum in the desktop market that I think enabled people like me to succeed. Not to mention, you're not giving a 30% cut to Apple or Google and can generally charge more than a few dollars for your app. It's definitely eas…
Don't use Electon. Your users WILL notice and complain about performance. Is this actually true? Slack and Discord are valued at ~$7B and $2B respectively, and neither have found it necessary to move off their Electron apps. I assume both companies have already evaluated whether Electron's performance impacts their their bottom line, and concluded it does not. Electron is undoubtedly slower and more resource-intensiv…
You're right. It's a relatively small, but persistent concern people have emailed me about. After a while, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
I know this because I'm temporarily using a Chrome-based WebBrowser component for called EO.WebBrowser (for edge-case reasons). I'm working on going back to the native WebBrowser control after getting about a few emails a month of emails asking about RAM usage.
It also shows up in the uninstall comments. Quote from a real comment: "The app works, but it uses a lot of RAM."
Slack and Discord are used for work, which might make users think of it a necessary evil. Paying for software yourself that you don't absolutely need and having it use lots of your RAM is a different story.
Re: Ask HN: Develop productivity app first for Mac or Windows 10?
#48From my own experience I'd consider a development environment that lets you cross-compile. c or c++ work and, old hat though it is, I've had good success writing cross-platform utilities in Lazarus (Object Pascal) and compiling for MacOS, Linux and Windows. The only issues in all cases has been the need for platform-specific libraries to manage GUI components like rich text editing.
Re: Ask HN: Develop productivity app first for Mac or Windows 10?
#49I run a bootstrapped desktop productivity software business myself. I'd say the split is somewhere around 70% Windows and 30% Mac (all self-marketing, no app stores). The mobile rush created a huge vacuum in the desktop market that I think enabled people like me to succeed. Not to mention, you're not giving a 30% cut to Apple or Google and can generally charge more than a few dollars for your app. It's definitely eas…
Don't use Electon. Your users WILL notice and complain about performance. Is this actually true? Slack and Discord are valued at ~$7B and $2B respectively, and neither have found it necessary to move off their Electron apps. I assume both companies have already evaluated whether Electron's performance impacts their their bottom line, and concluded it does not. Electron is undoubtedly slower and more resource-intensiv…
> Electron is undoubtedly slower and more resource-intensive than other options, but outside of specific audiences (HN readers) I bet most people won't care.
I think it makes even more of a difference for people outside of the HN audience.
A non-technical person might grab a $400 laptop from Costco with 4gb of RAM which is fairly common.
All it takes are a few Electron apps to exhaust that entire system's resources.
Re: Ask HN: Develop productivity app first for Mac or Windows 10?
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't use Electon. Your users WILL notice and complain about performance. Is this actually true? Slack and Discord are valued at ~$7B and $2B respectively, and neither have found it necessary to move off their Electron apps. I assume both companies have already evaluated whether Electron's performance impacts their their bottom line, and concluded it does not. Electron is undoubtedly slower and more resource-intensiv…
> Electron is undoubtedly slower and more resource-intensive than other options, but outside of specific audiences (HN readers) I bet most people won't care. I think it makes even more of a difference for people outside of the HN audience. A non-technical person might grab a $400 laptop from Costco with 4gb of RAM which is fairly common. All it takes are a few Electron apps to exhaust that entire system's resources.
But will a non-technical person know which apps are to blame?