But also remember that those $300 machines are mostly used for next to nothing. For the vast majority of the time people with those machines will have a couple of social media apps open in browsers, a media player running, maybe a mail reader, and perhaps some simple casual game. They aren't going to be running the several apps of any sort, never mind Electron ones, so what does it matter that several Electron apps would make the machine grind into a swappy mess?
If the regular people expect anything modern to be snappy on those machines then they have been mis-sold to[1] and that isn't our fault as devs.
> What the earth needs is...
Then why don't you put a team together and make it, and gain the fame and fortune that comes from solving the matter?
> NOT electron
Nobody is forcing you to use Electron based apps. If you find them, or anything else, too slow then find an alternative that is in a native toolset or entirely browser based, or what-ever.
A key problem is that people want what the want, they want it now, they want it to work on their platform without needing specific version of anything else (i.e. a browser), and they want it free. If Electron allows the thing to be delivered now, in a cross-platform manner, and people aren't willing to wait or pay for the dev time to develop in something smaller/nippier, then Electron is what devs are going to use.
I remember similar arguments regarding VB way back when: people wanting something that started faster and used less RAM bitterly complaining, but not wanting to use alternatives that were available because they cost more. To my mind Electron has a very similar feel to VB back then: great for prototyping, but can be used to produce fuller solutions too if you are willing to accept the cost in speed and weight.
[1] Oh how I love having to explain that 32GB total storage isn't really enough for Win10, especially when that is slow eMMC and the machine is swapping to it on account of only having 2GB RAM, when the sales person[2] said otherwise.
[2] People don't seem to accept "well go ask the salesman to make Office fit and make it go fast for you, you obviously think he knows more than I do"[3] as a valid response...
[3] Heck, those diminutive laptops/tablets/black-boxes-to-plug-into-your-tv, that are still being actively sold as Win10 compatible, can't even install the latest Win10 updates without some technical jiggery-pokery.
If the regular people expect anything modern to be snappy on those machines then they have been mis-sold to[1] and that isn't our fault as devs.
> What the earth needs is...
Then why don't you put a team together and make it, and gain the fame and fortune that comes from solving the matter?
> NOT electron
Nobody is forcing you to use Electron based apps. If you find them, or anything else, too slow then find an alternative that is in a native toolset or entirely browser based, or what-ever.
A key problem is that people want what the want, they want it now, they want it to work on their platform without needing specific version of anything else (i.e. a browser), and they want it free. If Electron allows the thing to be delivered now, in a cross-platform manner, and people aren't willing to wait or pay for the dev time to develop in something smaller/nippier, then Electron is what devs are going to use.
I remember similar arguments regarding VB way back when: people wanting something that started faster and used less RAM bitterly complaining, but not wanting to use alternatives that were available because they cost more. To my mind Electron has a very similar feel to VB back then: great for prototyping, but can be used to produce fuller solutions too if you are willing to accept the cost in speed and weight.
[1] Oh how I love having to explain that 32GB total storage isn't really enough for Win10, especially when that is slow eMMC and the machine is swapping to it on account of only having 2GB RAM, when the sales person[2] said otherwise.
[2] People don't seem to accept "well go ask the salesman to make Office fit and make it go fast for you, you obviously think he knows more than I do"[3] as a valid response...
[3] Heck, those diminutive laptops/tablets/black-boxes-to-plug-into-your-tv, that are still being actively sold as Win10 compatible, can't even install the latest Win10 updates without some technical jiggery-pokery.