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Ask HN: Anyone making a living off of desktop applications?

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Re: Ask HN: Anyone making a living off of desktop applications?

#41

Post by jventura »

edgytech wrote: post #37

It really depends on the usage of the application. What does it do? What features does it provide? What are the requirements of those features? You may need to consider a hybrid app, that has both a desktop component and a web service. If you can implement one or more of the features as a service, it will allow you to update them more easily. Also, keep in mind that a desktop app limits your install base to an OS, de…

For my application there's no intrinsic need for "social" or "sharing" features. It's supposed to be a productivity application where each user does his/her own thing. The target user are mostly non-technical people which probably will not have the need for have it on more than one device, so "sync" of data between devices may not be a relevant for them..

If I go the desktop way, I will probably use Qt (PyQt5) so there's some degree of freedom for cross-platform.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone making a living off of desktop applications?

#42

Post by otoburb »

DizzyDoo wrote: post #23

I'm making video games for PC, Mac and Linux (like this one - http://store.steampowered.com/app/386900 ), it's a very traditional release cycle, I work on a project for x months, and then I release it, moving onto the next game after a few weeks of post-launch support. PC games are generally seen as more valuable than mobile games, so I don't need to sell a terribly large volume in order for me, a single developer, t…

>> [...] moving onto the next game after a few weeks of post-launch support [...]

How do you handle patches for prior games into your workflow (i.e. long-term maintenance)? Do you build up an issue queue and then work on patches in between major releases?

Re: Ask HN: Anyone making a living off of desktop applications?

#43

Post by wslh »

jventura wrote: post #38
wslh wrote: post #18

One of my two small companies develop Windows development libraries for use in desktop and server applications and I see the native desktop apps doomed, except if you are targetting the enterprise (best in niche markets) and you know how to sell to enterprises. 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…

The application that I want to build is for a niche market (but not for companies), that is why I am in doubt between desktop and web. One thing that makes me want to stay way from web is that if this thing does not work, I would like people to continue using the application, even if I don't update it anymore. If it runs on a server, I will not be able to stop the server until everyone stops using the application for…

How long will it take to develop your desktop application? If it is just a few weeks or very few months go for it and test the market. If it doesn't work after spending some marketing efforts move away. Indeed nobody can predict your success.

Again, I think it is very difficult to attack the desktop market even if you target a niche market for end users. Enteprises uses are a different story.

One more thing if you insist: look at the OSX desktop market too because the dynamics of the end user consumption are different from Windows.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone making a living off of desktop applications?

#44

Post by i336_ »

windowsworkstoo wrote: post #33
i336_ wrote: post #9

From a desktop-application standpoint, the Web provides something very useful: easy upgrading. Like, you go to a URL, and if you aren't seeing the latest production revision of the site code, that's a bug. IMO, if you think you'll ever have edge cases where users might struggle to stay connected to the Web, think about doing a desktop app - but even then, consider using eg Electron/QTWebKit/similar so you can continu…

Yet the same feature can be a pain in the ass as you don't control your upgrade destiny. I know, I know, git orf mah lawn! But when you see normal folks totally confused because the developer decided to "upgrade" their experience in a way that was totally out of the users hands, it can be cringey.

Yeah... that's very true too, I hadn't considered it from that angle.

I will admit that I far prefer software that runs fully locally; if I don't like the direction a particular program has gone, I can either just use an older version.

And I do also find it jarring to open an app and be met with some new layout or design, or discover a new feature buried in a menu that wasn't there before. It would be really nice if app design was at the point where we could go "okay, here's a bunch of new features, click this button to switch over!"...

Re: Ask HN: Anyone making a living off of desktop applications?

#45

Post by jventura »

AlikhanPeleg wrote: post #35

For more than 3 years now I am making a decend full time income with a desktop cross browser testing application ( http://www.browseemall.com ) It is for a rather small customer group but still works great and is growing modestly.

Very interesting case of subscription based desktop application, am I right? How do you manage things such as a person being offline, do you require the person to connect to the internet so that you can manage the subscription? How does your users react? Have you already started with a subscription-based approach?

Re: Ask HN: Anyone making a living off of desktop applications?

#46

Post by fitzwatermellow »

DizzyDoo wrote: post #30
ownedthx wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mind sharing your stack?

Not at all. Unity is the engine I use, these engines are immensely valuable to developers like me, I can't invest years into building my own stable core right now, and although it has its rough edges and problems, it suits my projects very well. Builds to all sorts of targets, too. For my latest project I'm using the FMOD middleware for positional 3D audio. On the graphical asset side of things, I paint everything in…

+1 for Spine. Will literally change your perception of what's possible in sprite animation and illustration ;)

Check it out: http://esotericsoftware.com/

Re: Ask HN: Anyone making a living off of desktop applications?

#47

Post by jventura »

codecamper wrote: post #39
partisan wrote: post #2

This type of analysis paralysis will kill your project. > I have to think about the future, and so I have to try to make the right choice on this.. You don't have to make the right choice right now. For now, focus on getting something complete so that you can prove the idea out.

separation of concerns. Just write the logic in a fairly portable language.

I do have it in Python! I've successfully build some frontend experiments with Android (http://joaoventura.net/blog/2014/python-android/), Web (with Flask) and Qt (PyQt5 and pyotherside).

My problem is with the choice of the best frontend approach, and since I'm only one guy working on this, I am trying to find my "best" decision..

Re: Ask HN: Anyone making a living off of desktop applications?

#48

Post by DizzyDoo »

otoburb wrote: post #42
DizzyDoo wrote: post #23

I'm making video games for PC, Mac and Linux (like this one - http://store.steampowered.com/app/386900 ), it's a very traditional release cycle, I work on a project for x months, and then I release it, moving onto the next game after a few weeks of post-launch support. PC games are generally seen as more valuable than mobile games, so I don't need to sell a terribly large volume in order for me, a single developer, t…

>> [...] moving onto the next game after a few weeks of post-launch support [...] How do you handle patches for prior games into your workflow (i.e. long-term maintenance)? Do you build up an issue queue and then work on patches in between major releases?

That's exactly how I do things. I'm very glad that by distributing digitally, it's incredibly easy to roll out small fixes that are applied as incremental patches, so I don't tend to 'save up' for major updates. A benefit that comes with a stable engine is that it's already been tested on a wide variety of hardware, so most of the issues I fix are very rare gameplay bugs.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone making a living off of desktop applications?

#49

Post by pabloski »

ownedthx wrote: post #4

We have a desktop application that uses QtWebkit for the UI. We had no choice technically-we need to use audio APIs on Win/Mac to get our job done. Based on my experience, I would not recommend building a desktop app unless there is a technical reason to do so. Data storage, building installers, signing your app for target OS's, and dealing with auto-update are all technical problems that I'd prefer to avoid if I cou…

Hi, if I can ask: "why QtWebkit instead of Qtquick?".

Re: Ask HN: Anyone making a living off of desktop applications?

#50

Post by jventura »

ownedthx wrote: post #4

We have a desktop application that uses QtWebkit for the UI. We had no choice technically-we need to use audio APIs on Win/Mac to get our job done. Based on my experience, I would not recommend building a desktop app unless there is a technical reason to do so. Data storage, building installers, signing your app for target OS's, and dealing with auto-update are all technical problems that I'd prefer to avoid if I cou…

Do you have the frontend entirely made in HTML inside the webview, or it is just a small component?

My application must draw one SVG chart, and the SVG support on Qt is quite bad although I can render my SVG there..

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