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Show HN: I completed shipping my desktop app

pimosa.app

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Re: Show HN: I completed shipping my desktop app

#241

Post by zulban »

rq1 wrote: post #135

I’ll try to not be dismissive of the labour, though it’s kind of funny (or actually natural) that the heavy lifting libraries that only a few can actually write are open and free, while the shallow wrappers that everyone can write are paid and closed. Decades ago we were calling out these software and now it’s the norm. Another example along the line: I wanted to extract a frame from a video on iOS, it’s impossible w…

If you're concerned about open and free software I'm not sure using iOS makes a lot of sense. Of all mobile and desktop platforms, iOS has the highest barrier to entry for the free utilities you're hoping to find. Were you surprised you couldn't find your free utility on iOS?

Re: Show HN: I completed shipping my desktop app

#242

Post by Stratoscope »

phist_mcgee wrote: post #132
Stratoscope wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One example the article notes is tuna fish . When I was a kid, tuna and tuna fish were two different things. Tuna was tuna straight out of the can, with nothing added. After all, the can says tuna right on it. Tuna fish was tuna mixed with mayonnaise and crunchy things like pickles and celery. It was what today would be called tuna salad. So if mom asked, "would you like a tuna sandwich for lunch?" we would reply "ca…

Never heard of tuna fish as a phrase, do you say salmon fish and anchovy fish? Genuine question.

I think the distinction between "tuna" and "tuna fish" (tuna salad) was likely just something we made up in our own family. Maybe even just a way for us kids to prank our mom, or vice versa. "Do you want tuna, or tuna fish?"

OTOH, "tuna fish" was indeed a common phrase back in those days (mid 20th century) as a synonym for canned tuna. It appeared on tuna can labels and advertisements. Here are some examples:

https://www.google.com/imgres?q=%22tuna%20fish%22%20advertis...

https://www.palosverdespulse.com/blog/2021/6/25/it-tastes-li...

Over the years, "tuna fish" fell out of common use, which may explain why you haven't heard of it.

Here is a conversation I had with ChatGPT 4o about this:

https://chatgpt.com/share/677988fd-28b0-8012-af63-5bd59985a2...

To answer your question, no, we never said salmon fish or anchovy fish. Just tuna fish.

Language and its evolution is an interesting thing!

Re: Show HN: I completed shipping my desktop app

#243

Post by sadeshmukh »

bennythomsson wrote: post #142
criddell wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you are underestimating how difficult making a great UI is (although I haven’t used this application so I can’t say if it’s great or not).

And you might be underestimating the work that went into those libraries. We are talking decades of work, dealing with platform issues, performance, loads of security considerations and then there is the whole licensing+patent topic. Sure UI work is hard, but of the whole package, it's only the visible part of the iceberg and now I'm expected to give $30 to the person who only contributed that last piece? Of course i…

Software isn't a one time use commodity. Other people can make UIs - guess why people still buy them! And if you're mad about commercialization, then they should have chosen a different license. You are paying for the UI, and only the UI.

Re: Show HN: I completed shipping my desktop app

#244

Post by BoorishBears »

RamblingCTO wrote: post #171
rq1 wrote: post #135

I’ll try to not be dismissive of the labour, though it’s kind of funny (or actually natural) that the heavy lifting libraries that only a few can actually write are open and free, while the shallow wrappers that everyone can write are paid and closed. Decades ago we were calling out these software and now it’s the norm. Another example along the line: I wanted to extract a frame from a video on iOS, it’s impossible w…

Distribution, marketing and running it is the hard part, not building software. I consider libraries to be like roads, it's a communal good if you will. Feel free to build and run these apps yourself in the open instead of complaining. You will see how time consuming that is.

> Distribution, marketing and running

Case in point: I regularly use a free iOS app that is clearly the result of someone's deep passion in taking what could have been a simple wrapper and turning it into an incredibly simple but powerful interface to complete a useful task efficiently and at any scale... and that task is exactly what OP was trying to do...

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/frame-grab/id1319670797

But as someone who's somewhat familiar with app store optimization, I guarantee the creator did none of that that.

Their app name would need to be something obnoxious like "Frame Grabber Extractor: Pic from Video" to capture all the different searches people do for this task.

And the people focused on distribution are even paying for ads with the money they make their IAP infested "1 week trial; $4 a week" alternatives make.

Re: Show HN: I completed shipping my desktop app

#245

Post by xnx »

rq1 wrote: post #135

I’ll try to not be dismissive of the labour, though it’s kind of funny (or actually natural) that the heavy lifting libraries that only a few can actually write are open and free, while the shallow wrappers that everyone can write are paid and closed. Decades ago we were calling out these software and now it’s the norm. Another example along the line: I wanted to extract a frame from a video on iOS, it’s impossible w…

The authors and maintainers of foundational code/utilities like ffmpeg/curl/etc. should definitely be the ones who have all the riches they could ever want. Thousands have made fortunes off of their work.

That said, what's the free and open source version of this tool? There are some great open source video editors like Shotcut, Openshot, KDENLive, Blender, etc., but I think this tool is more like CyberChef for video?

Re: Show HN: I completed shipping my desktop app

#246

Post by BoorishBears »

pdyc wrote: post #214
rq1 wrote: post #135

I’ll try to not be dismissive of the labour, though it’s kind of funny (or actually natural) that the heavy lifting libraries that only a few can actually write are open and free, while the shallow wrappers that everyone can write are paid and closed. Decades ago we were calling out these software and now it’s the norm. Another example along the line: I wanted to extract a frame from a video on iOS, it’s impossible w…

its not just shallow wrapper, as a creator of other shallow wrapper(online and free btw) if you want to crop a video how do you plan to do it with ffmpeg cli? it would be really tedious to do so. You can easily do it visually with this wrapper and other such wrappers so its not like they are not providing value. Another example is do you remember ffmpeg command syntax? i don't! here he is taking care of generating it…

It is literally a shallow wrapper!

There's nearly 2 million lines of code in the FFMPEG codebase: unless you're building the next Adobe Premiere, no matter how much value you provide, you are building an extremely shallow wrapper around FFMPEG when you build an interface to crop videos.

No one is saying a shallow wrapper can't provide value, but most of the value for the end user is derived from FFMPEG, not the layer you added to it.

If we took FFMPEG and your wrapper and separated them, FFMPEG could still do the one task that your users need: it would be harder, and it would be less convenient, but it can still crop videos. Your tool would no longer do anything but draw rectangles where we'd like a crop to appear. It'd meet no user needs at all.

-

Also to clarify my stance, there's nothing wrong with shallow wrappers, and I've made shallow wrappers: I know finding the user need, and thinking of the right UX and figuring out distribution is all a lot of real legwork.

But I also find it's important to realize when most of the value you're providing is enabled by something you built on. There shouldn't be shame in admitting that you wrapped something that was powerful and potentially unwieldy for your segment of users and made it useful.

Re: Show HN: I completed shipping my desktop app

#247

Post by [deleted] »

rq1 wrote: post #135

I’ll try to not be dismissive of the labour, though it’s kind of funny (or actually natural) that the heavy lifting libraries that only a few can actually write are open and free, while the shallow wrappers that everyone can write are paid and closed. Decades ago we were calling out these software and now it’s the norm. Another example along the line: I wanted to extract a frame from a video on iOS, it’s impossible w…

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: I completed shipping my desktop app

#248

Post by zac23or »

gitaarik wrote: post #237
zac23or wrote: post #160

AWS can make billions from open source. On the other hand, solo developers who try the same path are basically seen as scammers. Ironic. And creating a good user interface is very, very hard. Otherwise Gimp wouldn't be the monstrosity it is.

Well I think Amazon and many other huge companies are having many unethical activities, and I think we should not think that if big companies do certain things, that it should be ok for us to do it too. HN is a community of hackers, not business people that are only commercially interested. But Hackers need money too, so we also need to be a little bit commercial. But it would be ideal if we could be commercial witho…

> HN is a community of hackers, not business people

From what I read here daily, it is becoming an anti-hacker, anti-worker, anti-individual and pro-big business community.

One of the proofs is this theread. You can see People defending AWS... BUT my point is not AWS is wrong, but supporting AWS and criticizing individuals is what is wrong.

And no one noticed this, and has already started defending AWS.

This is something...

Re: Show HN: I completed shipping my desktop app

#249

Post by gus_massa »

scarface_74 wrote: post #172
imachine1980_ wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't check the project deeply yet so I don't comment about it. That's not true Dropbox was in the technical edge when it came, and old time ago, was barely possible, and the recurrent cost of the severs and operation cost is clearly not the same. And pay Foss GUIs are sad state of reality

That comment above was a call out to the (in)famous comment when Dropbox was introduced on HN back in 2007 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224 It’s the HN version of “less space than the Nomad. No wireless. Lame” https://m.slashdot.org/story/21026

Note that this is only Part I of the original comment. Parts II and III are more interesting (but everybody forgets them).

Re: Show HN: I completed shipping my desktop app

#250

Post by JanisErdmanis »

9cb14c1ec0 wrote: post #180
rubymamis wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with distributing standalone installers on Windows is that all non-popular apps are immediately regarded as malware by Windows Defender unless you go through the horrendous process of signing your app, which requires obtaining a certificate (which also requires forming a company that is not an LLC) and waiting more than a month while navigating multiple rounds of bureaucracy. I’ve done it for my app, and…

Azure trusted signing for the win. Only $9.99/month.

Can Azure sign MSIX application bundles with that subscription price?
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