Windows native app development is a mess
domenic.me
Windows native app development is a mess
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Re: Windows native app development is a mess
#2It has been a mess for 15 years and Microsoft keeps making it worse by adding new frameworks without retiring the old ones. Win32, WPF, WinUI, MAUI. Nobody knows which one to pick.
Re: Windows native app development is a mess
#3> And from what I can tell, neither are most developers. The Hacker News commentariat loves to bemoan the death of native apps. But given what a mess the Windows app platform is, I’ll pick the web stack any day, with Electron or Tauri to bridge down to the relevant Win32 APIs for OS integration.
Well yes as a user I prefer native apps for their performance. It's clearly a mess to develop native apps as the article shows. But as a user I don't see that problem. I do see ever worsening apps though. Like the total mess that is new outlook and teams.
Re: Windows native app development is a mess
#4"So when I went to work on my app, I was astonished to find that twenty years after the release of WPF, the boilerplate had barely changed."
Such is the benefit and the curse, I guess, of having the Windows API being locked in the distant past for backwards compatibility.
I've always been surprised that Microsoft didn't do a full operating system refactor and provide a compatibility layer for running old binaries. Perhaps they figure it would be better to just transition everything to software as a service using web tech? But I just don't see how that strategy is gonna work long-term.
Re: Windows native app development is a mess
#5Best framework for this is Qt.
Re: Windows native app development is a mess
#6That is why everyone even Microsoft themselves does Electron.
Running with html/css/js has benefits it really is open and free development based on international standards and not locked into any single big tech.
Re: Windows native app development is a mess
#7Best framework for this is Qt.
MFC is rock solid too
Re: Windows native app development is a mess
#8It has been a mess for 15 years and Microsoft keeps making it worse by adding new frameworks without retiring the old ones. Win32, WPF, WinUI, MAUI. Nobody knows which one to pick.
Yes, and the hubris sting-of-death was UWP.
They tried to make Windows into a mobile OS,
severely restricting the alowed actions of programs,
including strict certification to be able to run them (elsewhere).
Of course nobody went for this and UWP died a quiet death.
Recently there are signs that MS is trying to go back
to making products that users actualle want (Win11 reverts).
We'll see...
Re: Windows native app development is a mess
#9That is why everyone even Microsoft themselves does Electron. Running with html/css/js has benefits it really is open and free development based on international standards and not locked into any single big tech.
Clown shit. “We’re made our own OS a nightmare to build on so we’re gonna use JavaScript powered pseudo-VMs and make everything take 2 gigs of ram minimum”
Re: Windows native app development is a mess
#10It has been a mess for 15 years and Microsoft keeps making it worse by adding new frameworks without retiring the old ones. Win32, WPF, WinUI, MAUI. Nobody knows which one to pick.
Yes, and the hubris sting-of-death was UWP. They tried to make Windows into a mobile OS, severely restricting the alowed actions of programs, including strict certification to be able to run them (elsewhere). Of course nobody went for this and UWP died a quiet death. Recently there are signs that MS is trying to go back to making products that users actualle want (Win11 reverts). We'll see...
> (Win11 reverts).
I must've missed that one. What did they revert?