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Comment by diss | Hacker News Reader

I don't think it would be less bloated, it's impossible for a layer on top of native to be less bloated. That's not to say it couldn't be efficient, and efficiency in development time is the key factor. It can be a nightmare to manage apps across different platforms, frameworks and languages. RN could be massively improved, but the concept is a godsend.

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Why would I as end user care about developer efficiency?

Aside from update frequency you wouldn't, users can't tell the difference if it's done well. Are we not talking about "the state of software development"?

Microsoft and Adobe update their apps quite frequently -- for Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android. I gladly pay $100 a year for O365.

What are some well done cross platform apps that don't unnecessarily drain battery life? I can think of one - VSCode.

Huge companies, yes. They'd still prefer to spend less money/resource/time if they have the option to though, hence why some large companies actively explore cross platform technology. Adobe did that with phonegap a long time ago.

You're talking about Electron there, which like phonegap is a browser wrapper and a different thing to RN. I don't believe RN is known to be a battery drain in general.

How well did PhoneGap work out?

Badly, which is why we have a totally different approach in the form of RN, Flutter etc. The concept of cross platform support wasn't the problem, that's what we're chasing for a reason.

It keeps the cost down. A lot of end users care more about cost than literally anything else.

How many end users pay for non-game desktop software at all? How many successful (ie profitable) companies have made money selling desktop software using cross platform frameworks like React Native?

How many successful (ie profitable) companies have made money selling desktop software using cross platform frameworks like React Native?

React Native for Windows and Mac specifically, none. We commenting on an article about its launch. It's a bit early to be talking about that.

Cross-platform frameworks like Electron or Flutter, loads. VSCode, Skype, Discord, WhatsApp Desktop all use it. Of course you might argue that they're all selling services rather than software but that the point really is that the companies authoring those apps want to keep costs down, give users the same experience everywhere, and believe cross-platform apps can give users a good experience.

And no one cares about any of those apps to pay money directly...

You can't really make that assertion because no one can pay money directly. You have no way of knowing if people would pay for them if they were offered as a product. You just assume they wouldn't because that fits your belief that no one would pay for cross-platform framework driven apps. Until you bring some actual evidence to the discuss to back up your point the whole argument is pointless.

Are you proud of being a consumer rather than a creator?

Surprisingly enough most developers are both....

Because developer efficiency reduces the cost of the app, or in many cases causes the app to exist where it otherwise would not.

Because if you as a developer only develops for a single platform and that platform isn’t the one I’m using at the moment, your product is useless for me.

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