11–20 of 201 posts
I make living off desktop app in construction industry. The app is 21 years old and is still written in Delphi 5. I still actively maintaining it and it runs fairly well on modern Windows OSes, but there were some low level problems in recent years. We are team of two: I am sole developer and there is another person doing sales, support, training and all the rest of stuff.
There are still financial desktop applications. Some old school people insist on using them.
Do you really think users will be doing Photoshop and AutoCAD in a browser? No matter if you have a fibre op connection, the lag is always there.
Recently the main player in this domain moved to Web apps. There was an overwhelming protest from its customers, who insisted they prefer the desktop version.
1. You can package your web app into electron or similar 2. You can use a portable platform like QT or Xamarin
But more importantly, you should chose the one that will help you conclude that this is a good idea sooner. You'll probably end up rewriting the tool once you get feedback about where it rules and where it sucks.
So I'd say that unless you want to do that side project to learn something new, stick to what you know best (and what you know will work). That'll get you to the point where you can decide whether this is worth pursuing faster.
I'd add while mobile seems to be the trendy place to start a startup, most productivity apps are still easier and faster to use with a keyboard and mouse. So desktop-first can make sense sometimes.
Yes, I am thriving with a niche C++/Win32 graphics app. Web apps are a long way from having the responsiveness and control of a desktop app. Do you really think users will be doing Photoshop and AutoCAD in a browser? No matter if you have a fibre op connection, the lag is always there. Recently the main player in this domain moved to Web apps. There was an overwhelming protest from its customers, who insisted they pr…
I don't think this is the case. Facebook never needed desktop apps, did they? The web worked great for them.
Rule of thumb #1: if you can build the same application for the desktop or the web, choose the web. Don't think more. My company does Windows drivers and some other operating system internals stuff that is impossible to offer as a web app and this is the reason I can't follow this rule.
My last suggestion is trying to attach your app to other revenue streams such as trainings, customization, integration with other apps, and any other service that make you escape from selling individual (and probably cheap) units of your product.
Yes, I am thriving with a niche C++/Win32 graphics app. Web apps are a long way from having the responsiveness and control of a desktop app. Do you really think users will be doing Photoshop and AutoCAD in a browser? No matter if you have a fibre op connection, the lag is always there. Recently the main player in this domain moved to Web apps. There was an overwhelming protest from its customers, who insisted they pr…
> Web apps are a long way from having the responsiveness and control of a desktop app. I don't think this is the case. Facebook never needed desktop apps, did they? The web worked great for them.
Yes, I am thriving with a niche C++/Win32 graphics app. Web apps are a long way from having the responsiveness and control of a desktop app. Do you really think users will be doing Photoshop and AutoCAD in a browser? No matter if you have a fibre op connection, the lag is always there. Recently the main player in this domain moved to Web apps. There was an overwhelming protest from its customers, who insisted they pr…
and as a Photoshop replacement, you have things like :
And yes, there are people using these online tools.