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ElectronJS alternative: SciterJS – HTML/CSS/JS in 4.5 MB executable

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Re: ElectronJS alternative: SciterJS – HTML/CSS/JS in 4.5 MB executable

#131

Post by NetOpWibby »

dazhbog wrote: post #78
jug wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prodigies like him kind of scare me. I studied at the same place as where Adam Dunkels (behind e.g. uIP and Contiki, a networked OS requiring 30 KB RAM and 30 KB ROM despite a GUI) did and he was almost a mythological figure with stories of taking multiple classes at once with ease.

Wow, I remember playing with contiki, protothreads and his uBasic interpreter. He said he was bored in an event and wrote uBasic. What?? I cant even Anything else u remember about him?

I just LOL’d, that’s incredible.

Re: ElectronJS alternative: SciterJS – HTML/CSS/JS in 4.5 MB executable

#132

Post by CapriciousCptl »

c-smile wrote: post #110

Sciter's author here. What would be strategies in case of Kickstarter campaign will fail? In principle I can publish it for free as it is now but I definitely don't want it to be one more of abandon-ware projects that are open sourcing as the end of life. In general OS development is significantly more costly (for the author) as closed source one - for many reasons. So OS development needs steady stream of funding. S…

Problem is you're competing in a saturated market (Electron, React Native for Windows and macOS) and already tested your positioning once with the KickStarter campaign.

Finding a way to fund this is going to be an uphill battle, although I like the creative ideas amadeuspagel mentioned. Like anything else, find a niche somewhere (possibly related to performance/memory for clients not using React) and serve it with a modest upsell. But it's an enormous market, with entrenched competitors who don't need to make a profit on their offerings, so expect fierce competition all the way.

Re: ElectronJS alternative: SciterJS – HTML/CSS/JS in 4.5 MB executable

#133

Post by robertoandred »

red_admiral wrote: post #60
ptrott2017 wrote: post #14

Sciter is a very nice engine with a solid API/SDK and rock solid engineering behind it. For developers building efficient UI apps it can be a real alternative method to things like electron or as a lighter alternative to QT with QML script. However until now it was only available under commercial licence. Andrew Fedoniouk ( a.k.a. c-smile Sciter's original developer) has a kickstarter to fund open sourcing and suppor…

This is the kind of project that I'd hope the Linux Foundation or similar could take an interest in financing too. Until, at least, all major modern OSes come with a built in scriptable headless browser engine, which would be a game-changer. Something-like-electron-or-sciter where you don't have to download the runtime for each individual application. Also, of course, not a walled garden: the windows "modern apps" st…

They already do. Macs have Webkit, and I'm sure Windows has an equivalent.

Re: ElectronJS alternative: SciterJS – HTML/CSS/JS in 4.5 MB executable

#134

Post by tomelders »

c-smile wrote: post #110

Sciter's author here. What would be strategies in case of Kickstarter campaign will fail? In principle I can publish it for free as it is now but I definitely don't want it to be one more of abandon-ware projects that are open sourcing as the end of life. In general OS development is significantly more costly (for the author) as closed source one - for many reasons. So OS development needs steady stream of funding. S…

Would a Unity/Unreal engine style model work?

Re: ElectronJS alternative: SciterJS – HTML/CSS/JS in 4.5 MB executable

#135

Post by eropple »

Fnoord wrote: post #89
tomashubelbauer wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think for "all major modern OSS" to apply we need at least Windows and macOS support. Internet Explorer never fit this description. Edit: This comment is wrong - looks like IE did fit this description before my time. :-)

Internet Explorer ran on macOS back when it was relevant. It got discontinued after Safari was released. Also, Internet Explorer was ported to various Unices. It just never got ported to a Linux-kernel based OS. If software like this is FOSS, relies on open standards, and is designed architect independent it can be run on virtually anything. Including something which is rising in popularity.

Not only was there IE for Mac -- at the time, it was actually a pretty decent browser. Bit rotted over time, but there was a stretch when your choices were a really janky Netscape and IE for Mac, and the choice as I recall it was pretty easy.

Re: ElectronJS alternative: SciterJS – HTML/CSS/JS in 4.5 MB executable

#136

Post by catchmeifyoucan »

It's not entirely clear, does this support node integration? Like utilizing the file system, node-gyp modules, etc.

It looks like this just vanilla javascript and displays html/web pages. Perhaps we can bundle a nodejs program alongside sciter?

Re: ElectronJS alternative: SciterJS – HTML/CSS/JS in 4.5 MB executable

#137

Post by Wowfunhappy »

ptrott2017 wrote: post #14

Sciter is a very nice engine with a solid API/SDK and rock solid engineering behind it. For developers building efficient UI apps it can be a real alternative method to things like electron or as a lighter alternative to QT with QML script. However until now it was only available under commercial licence. Andrew Fedoniouk ( a.k.a. c-smile Sciter's original developer) has a kickstarter to fund open sourcing and suppor…

Could Sciter be used as an actual web browser too? We badly need more diversity in that space...

Re: ElectronJS alternative: SciterJS – HTML/CSS/JS in 4.5 MB executable

#138

Post by wtetzner »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #137
ptrott2017 wrote: post #14

Sciter is a very nice engine with a solid API/SDK and rock solid engineering behind it. For developers building efficient UI apps it can be a real alternative method to things like electron or as a lighter alternative to QT with QML script. However until now it was only available under commercial licence. Andrew Fedoniouk ( a.k.a. c-smile Sciter's original developer) has a kickstarter to fund open sourcing and suppor…

Could Sciter be used as an actual web browser too? We badly need more diversity in that space...

I'm not completely sure, but it seems like maybe Sciter is able to stay so lightweight because it implements a subset of the HTML/CSS.

If not, though, that would be a pretty big deal.

Re: ElectronJS alternative: SciterJS – HTML/CSS/JS in 4.5 MB executable

#139

Post by 4silvertooth »

c-smile wrote: post #110

Sciter's author here. What would be strategies in case of Kickstarter campaign will fail? In principle I can publish it for free as it is now but I definitely don't want it to be one more of abandon-ware projects that are open sourcing as the end of life. In general OS development is significantly more costly (for the author) as closed source one - for many reasons. So OS development needs steady stream of funding. S…

Wouldn't a licence like Qt do that, price for static linking.

As an open-source developer where I am not thinking to earn a single penny from apps I build why would I support the Kickstarter campaign and as a Company who want to make big why I would I support the campaign to open source it where I could just buy the source code if I want to and get an edge over others.

Re: ElectronJS alternative: SciterJS – HTML/CSS/JS in 4.5 MB executable

#140

Post by c-smile »

DethNinja wrote: post #130
c-smile wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"VC funding and possibly change the business model" I was thinking about something like that. But again, realistically speaking, what would be interesting for VCs in such project to even bother about it?

I honestly don't know your business so I can't personally say it but in essence: Do you think market(consumers) for GUI design software will increase or decrease in future? I do believe it will increase as more and more companies need in-house software. Also, it is worth noting QT has ~60 million dollars in revenue and that is definitely in the ballpark of VC backed money. You would probably have to deliver 10 millio…

"Market(consumers) for GUI design software will increase or decrease in future?"

In regard of this, there are three types of consumer roles:

1. "readers" - all of us reading the internet, e.g. me and you reading HN now.

2. "creators" - all of us who create IT stuff and content at some extent- sites and content, browsers will never be quite adequate for that role, for many reasons. Compare desktop Word and those desperate and ugly attempts to reproduce it for browsers.

3. "app users" - you or me consuming modern applications, Slack, Skype, etc. That must be lightweight desktop apps, IMO. Sciter.JS (as does Sciter) is the best candidate for such cases.

Groups #2 and #3 are smaller but proportional to #1. As soon as #1 will grow as #2 and #3 will grow too.

So the need for desktop UI will definitely not go away in foreseeable future - only grow. And so the need of HTML/CSS in UI too - due to flexibility of Web stack and developers base.

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