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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

#41
post #7
post #2

Shipping .exe and .dll directly in github source repo?

It looks like the author was trying to crowd-fund open-sourcing this project: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/c-smile/open-source-sci... I think we'd be better off trying to slim down Chromium or reviving the idea of using the built-in OS WebView control (which is mostly Chromium nowadays anyway), at least that would be a standard web environment.

Nobody is going to slim down chromium.

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

#42
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For $100K in total, a tiny marketing budget those companies could have shown some good will towards Open Source. I wonder if the author actually contacted those companies. That is less than $3K from each of those customers listed.

Given the author wants to release Sciter under GPL, unless twice as many funds are raised, I fail to see the incentive for any company to fund this. GPL + commercial licensing model changes nothing for commercial product developers.

It would be surprising if the companies using Sciter (Norton, Avast, ESet, BitDefender) didn't have a copy of the source code with their commercial license, and the right to ship their own patched version with their software.

If the project ever fizzled away they would probably just maintain it themselves, or migrate to Electron. Actually, it's not like these AV companies are known for their high quality product, so it wouldn't surprise me if they would just let it bitrot until there are exploitable holes.

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

#43
post #10
post #2

Shipping .exe and .dll directly in github source repo?

That's a collosal red flag.

How is that a red flag? The project hasn't been released yet and you still complain that someone went out of their way to make a demo available?

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

#44
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on what you're looking for. It's similar to other third-party component libraries out there. There are open source and closed source ones. With the closed source ones you can take a leap of faith and trust the developer of the project, how it's documented, what it does, and decide whether or not to use it. If you submit to an app store, they can decide whether to approve it. There are closed-source third-p…

> It depends on what you're looking for. Security, for starters. There is no way around this. > It's similar to other third-party component libraries out there. There are open source and closed source ones. You're trying to side-step the fact that a random user uploaded binaries that were crafted to do god knows what to the host's computer in a way that circumvents basic auditing and security checks, and did so while…

"a random user" is the developer of Sciter, which is the UI engine used by practically every antivirus software on the planet. This is just a demo of his new project that combines Sciter with a JS engine. He only provided demo binaries because he is running a crowdfunding campaign to release the opensource version.

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

#45
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It depends on what you're looking for. Security, for starters. There is no way around this. > It's similar to other third-party component libraries out there. There are open source and closed source ones. You're trying to side-step the fact that a random user uploaded binaries that were crafted to do god knows what to the host's computer in a way that circumvents basic auditing and security checks, and did so while…

"a random user" is the developer of Sciter, which is the UI engine used by practically every antivirus software on the planet. This is just a demo of his new project that combines Sciter with a JS engine. He only provided demo binaries because he is running a crowdfunding campaign to release the opensource version.

Honest question: why anti-virus software? What makes sciter especially appropriate for them?

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

#48
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For $100K in total, a tiny marketing budget those companies could have shown some good will towards Open Source. I wonder if the author actually contacted those companies. That is less than $3K from each of those customers listed.

Given the author wants to release Sciter under GPL, unless twice as many funds are raised, I fail to see the incentive for any company to fund this. GPL + commercial licensing model changes nothing for commercial product developers.

$200k is still chump change to these companies. Probably Github has paid a multitude to that to the team of employed electron devs already, and that's just for the work of wrapping CEF with a js layer. Sciter on the other hand is an entire HTML engine. As the new evolutionary step beyond electron, I think it deserves that money. Even a million dollars would be still a deal.

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

#49
post #38

checkout how conformant QuickJS is with the modern ES standards https://test262.report/ (especially compared with other engines developed by big teams and companies behind them) Fabrice Bellard is a genius, and I really don't like using this word.

> Fabrice Bellard is a genius

Yeah, I read about a cool tech and half the time he's behind it. When I learned about the rocketman flying near an airport a few weeks ago I was surprised it wasn't him testing his new rocket engine 3d printed in his basement! ;)

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

#50
post #4

Please, please stop comparing built in platform webviews and alternatives like Sciter to Electron. You can hate on Electron all you want (I do too) but it's a totally different beast to almost all these other solutions. It's all fun and games until you realize that to get half the junk Electron throws you for free, you'll wind up building it yourself in these solutions.

Arguments like these are a lot more compelling when they include some specific features that are missing. Too often, "includes everything you need for free!" translates to "weighs down your binary with a hundred megabytes of functionality no one actually uses."

What electronjs brings is cross platform deployment. This is not a small feature.
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