An unofficial WWDC app for OS X (opens in new tab)

> What does it bring to the table that I can't code myself?

The ability to create reasonably good-looking cross-platform desktop applications using Node.js. Obviously Electron is not much use to you if you're already experienced in the native development kit of your platform, but if your main expertise is Node.js (which is the case for an increasing number of developers), Electron is quite handy.

I was about to say, "not that many apps, all I can think of is Atom and VS Code", but I was surprised by the size of this list: http://electron.atom.io/apps/

I've never used it, but it sounds potentially great for people who do a lot of web development. It's a frictionless way for them to share code and other assets between native(isher) desktop apps and web projects. For web developers who don't do desktop development at all, it's also a relatively frictionless way to ship a desktop app.

If you don't need a cross-platform UI toolkit, and/or don't need to (or want to) use web technologies in a desktop app, it wouldn't be a net positive. Obviously there are downsides in terms of performance and not having a native UI. The upsides depend on your requirements, which range from 0 to >= the downsides.

The company I work for has an Electron app and the advantage of it is that we can take our existing Node.js-powered online product and package it up for desktop/offline use with just some minimal work. We don't have to maintain two completely separate codebases.

Their UI feels alien on every platform. The startup time, memory consumption and general performance is subpar to native applications. Generally, I feel like developers who make software for platforms individually care more for user experience. Like this app, for example, it feels polished, uses the native OS X UI elements and performs super fast (much due to Swift in its nature being faster than JavaScript).

I certainly see the point and some use cases for Electron, however I dislike the recent trend of reinventing the wheel of every application using Electron.

As a JavaScript developer, I use and don't dislike Electron apps (currently running Atom!) but one thing I do have to say is that they use a lot more battery power and CPU. As much as I like Feross' work, I tried using WebTorrent Desktop[1] but after some hours of running it my Macbook's fans turned on. To me, a torrent client should always sit quietly in the background taking up as little resources as possible.

[1] https://webtorrent.io/desktop

I can imagine it feels worse in older hardware. For an app meant to be used only in one OS, it makes more sense to just go native.

Poor native integration; slow; memory hogs; sucks battery life even at idle. Chrome is a battery killer on Mac.

What's the minimum file size for an Electron app?

Microsoft lets you build your iOS apps for Windows.

https://github.com/Microsoft/WinObjC

Electron is the current fad for web devs creating desktop apps, so he's saying its a nic change to see someone actually implement a desktop app actually using the native desktop toolkit and metaphors and not what ever ill conceived platform alien system they've developed.

I mean in a general sense. I'd pay for all sorts of things I currently get for free — writing, art, software, videos — if it was as easy as clicking a button. Getting out my wallet, entering a credit card number, and going through the payment steps is too much work for a quarter.