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A single line of code cost $8000

pietrasiak.com

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Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#161

Post by yojo »

rafram wrote: post #143
yojo wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s pretty much the floor for an Electron app. If you’re a small shop or solo dev, it is real hard to justify going native on three platforms when electron gives it for (near) free. And outside of HN, no one seems to blink at a 250MB bundle. There are alternatives like Tauri that use the system browser and allow substantially smaller bundles, but they’re not nearly as mature as Electron, and you will get cross pla…

This app is Mac-only, which makes the choice to use Electron a little confusing.

That is… surprising.

I’d actually seen this project before because the author did a nice write up on using React portal to portal into electron windows[1], which is something I decided to do in my app.

I’d just assumed his was a cross platform project.

1: https://pietrasiak.com/creating-multi-window-electron-apps-u...

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#162

Post by leoapagano »

Ignoring the obvious question of "why does a screen recorder that checks for updates every 5 minutes need to be installed if macOS already has a screen recorder built in"—writing your own (buggy) auto updater for a macOS app, in 2025, is nuts considering you also have two existing options for auto updates at your disposal, the Mac App Store and Sparkle (https://sparkle-project.org/), both of which are now nearly two decades old.

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#163

Post by HelloNurse »

ryandrake wrote: post #147
HelloNurse wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

App store updates are perfect: no unnecessary complications, no unnecessary work (assuming Screen Studio is published and properly updated in the app store), and the worst case scenario is notifications about a new Screen Studio version ending up in a Screen Studio recording in progress. Thinking of it, the discussed do-it-yourself update checking is so stupid that malice and/or other serious bugs should be assumed.

Exactly. The AppStore already exists and does updates (either automatically or manually, configurable by the user). The developer didn't have to lift a finger to get this functionality. Imagine sitting down and spending time adding functionality to your application that is already provided for free by the operating system, and then after all that, doing it incorrectly!

Starting from the paid developer accounts, the Apple app store isn't "provided for free by the operating system" and it is a source of endless busywork, fear and suffering, but the argument stands: a professional Macintosh software vendor uses the app store because Macintosh users expect it, so it can be assumed that "properly" publishing new software version to the app store is a sunken cost that should be made as useful as possible.

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#164

Post by rvz »

kovac wrote: post #150

CI/CD at it's finest :p I guess the 5-minutely updates is correlated with the rate of bug fixes they need to push... Surely, that can't be for new features. Looking at the summary section, I'm not convinced these guys learned the right lesson yet.

CI/CD is part of the solution, but it is really just proper testing.

Nothing has been learned in this post and it has costed him $8,000 because of inadequate testing.

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#165

Post by skinner927 »

bearjaws wrote: post #157
HelloNurse wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

App store updates are perfect: no unnecessary complications, no unnecessary work (assuming Screen Studio is published and properly updated in the app store), and the worst case scenario is notifications about a new Screen Studio version ending up in a Screen Studio recording in progress. Thinking of it, the discussed do-it-yourself update checking is so stupid that malice and/or other serious bugs should be assumed.

Yeah no, publishing to the App Store is a nightmare in cost and time. I can 100% guarantee they still saved money on 30% fees even after this $8000 snafu. Screen Studio has 32k followers, lets say 6% are end users, 2000 users at $229, that is $137k in App Store fees. I am going to say writing your own app update script is a wash time wise, as getting your app published is not trivial, especially for an app that requi…

Some people don’t like using the AppStore. I like to keep backups of installers so I can control the version. And if it gets pulled from the AppStore, I’ll always have a copy.

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#166

Post by iends »

lawgimenez wrote: post #160
benwilber0 wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> their software also downloaded a 250MB update file every five minutes How on earth is a screen recording app 250 megabytes

I don’t use their software but if someone has they should be able to decompile it.

It's an electron app.

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#167

Post by mobilemidget »

benwilber0 wrote: post #151
mieko wrote: post #114

For people finding this thread via web search in the future: screen.studio is macOS screen recording software that checks for updates every five minutes. Somehow, that alone is NOT the bug described in this post. The /other/ bug described in this blog is: their software also downloaded a 250MB update file every five minutes. The software developers there consider all of this normal except the actual download, which c…

> their software also downloaded a 250MB update file every five minutes How on earth is a screen recording app 250 megabytes

Or.. Why on earth you need to check for updates 288x per day. It sounds and seems more like 'usage monitoring' rather than being sure that all users have the most recent bug fixes installed. What's wrong with checking for updates upon start once (and cache per day). What critical bugs or fixes could have been issued that warrant 288 update checks.

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#168

Post by VladVladikoff »

abstractspoon wrote: post #98

I find it ludicrous that the developers of an app as insignificant as a screen recorder would think it's necessary to check for updates every 5 minutes. Once a day would surely be sufficient.

I honestly lost so much respect for the author after reading this that I completely bailed on the article. Every 5 minutes update check is entirely unhinged behaviour.

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#169

Post by chris_va »

abstractspoon wrote: post #98

I find it ludicrous that the developers of an app as insignificant as a screen recorder would think it's necessary to check for updates every 5 minutes. Once a day would surely be sufficient.

I generally find that these things are put in during development, and then people forget to take them out.

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#170

Post by ryandrake »

HelloNurse wrote: post #163
ryandrake wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. The AppStore already exists and does updates (either automatically or manually, configurable by the user). The developer didn't have to lift a finger to get this functionality. Imagine sitting down and spending time adding functionality to your application that is already provided for free by the operating system, and then after all that, doing it incorrectly!

Starting from the paid developer accounts, the Apple app store isn't "provided for free by the operating system" and it is a source of endless busywork, fear and suffering, but the argument stands: a professional Macintosh software vendor uses the app store because Macintosh users expect it, so it can be assumed that "properly" publishing new software version to the app store is a sunken cost that should be made as u…

By "provided for free" I mean the App Store comes with the OS, costs nothing (monetarily) to the developer over the existing annual Apple Developer Program fee, which pretty much all macOS developers pay anyway, and can be counted on to exist on all macOS installations.
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