Electron apps are ruining the Windows 11 experience, and even the JavaScript creator has warned against ‘rushed web UX over native,’ but it doesn’t look like that will change Microsoft’s plans. In a post on X and other places, Microsoft reaffirmed its commitment to AI in Windows 11 and encouraged Electron developers to consider using AI in their apps.
This sentence reads like Microsoft is the inventor of Javascript:
Electron apps are ruining the Windows 11 experience, and even the JavaScript creator has warned against ‘rushed web UX over native,’
So there’s 3 things, either they meant Typescript, they are very wrong or they’re quoting Brendan Eich and not attributing it to him.
Yes.
this solidifies two of my predictions from 15-20 years ago.
- Microsoft is moving to an “internet required” OS, likely meaning cloud based OS
- all apps will become web apps
my final prediction from then was subscription based access to your operating system, apps, and data. you own nothing. your data is constantly consumed and used to train their products. you will never be able to extract your data and will be forever locked-in to their product. this also means that you will have to pay extra for app use. need to use Photoshop? that’s an extra fee. need to use 3D rendering software? thats the ultra package with GPU fees per hour.
most of this is actually happening under the covers, but nothing is locking us in.
I would say we have about 5-7 years before the above happens and there’s no way back.
Microslop Winslop 11 with Electroslop
Turns out absolutely everybody hate Windows, including Microsoft.
Hi, uh- just incase Slopya Nadella of Microslop happens to read the comments here one day,
Slopya- please take your sloperating system, print the slop code on A4 paper, fold it until it’s all corners. When done, insert rectally.The next step in app delivery is shipping a full VM with the operating system and the app.
Docker?
Minesweeper as a Docker container.
Snap/Flatpak basically (I know containers are not exactly VMs)
Yeah sounds like an AI agent decided that.
I would actually be for keyboards having a dedicated AI key, because then I would always have a key to remap to my voice PTT without loosing anything useful.
If you don’t want to write native code, then make a PWA. At least those don’t run a separate copy of chrome for each program.
PWAs do have severe limitations though… i wish it wasn’t; i love PWAs but they’ve been massively hamstrung by the big players. sadly, they’re not really comparable other than for basic apps IMO
And or tauri
The one thing Apple has done an amazing job of over the years is providing a solid, clean, common application framework for all of their systems.
They’ve fucked it up recently, but basically, 90% of the time you’d get the same consistent interface design across all apps, with common design language and iconography and accessibility features. They aggressively deprecate so you have to keep that $100 dev fee rolling, but the experience has been good for the the better part of 20 years (post carbon & X11, pre-liquid ass, the cocoa years).
If everything on Windows is a vibe-coded web app then everything is going to look like different, feel like shit to use, and perform like shit.
How has Apple fucked up recently?
As an avid Apple user the most recent ui changes are unfathomably bad. The os has become notably less useful to me in som frustrating ways. I can solve some but not all of it through settings.
You mean since 26? I agree. I dunno who they have at the wheel, but they need to step down lol.
It was this guy. And he left for Facebook. Where he belongs.
https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/apple-iphone-alan-dye-design-move-b2878226.html
The person responsible already did.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apples-ai-chief-abruptly-steps-232333738.html
That’s the AI, which is only a small fraction of the problem with 26.
IIRC the person most responsible for Liquid Glass now works at Meta.
Idk I’ve really liked it. Accessibility was an issue in the demos, it’s not anymore; the changes are purely aesthetic and tbf it does look nice
The transparency is still painful for me. And I used to be able to two finger click on my apps app to see a list of all apps that I could quickly scroll to and get. Instead of that quick and easy interaction now I get a window that pops up and forces me to type search Params, and it always has the last thing I searched in there so I can’t just scroll. It turned a “two finger click, scroll, one finger click” activity I could do with a single hand into “click, click, hold backspace, type Params, click” activity that is way less convenient and requires both hands.
The one thing Apple has done an amazing job of over the years is providing a solid, clean, common application framework for all of their systems.
iOS doesn’t even have a universal back button, every app has their own way of implementing it.
It has swipe to the right from the side of the screen. That works in very application I’ve tried.
It’s not universal. It has become more common, but there is no OS-level enforcement
If your app uses NavigationView, like 80% of apps, you get a back button and swipe gesture for free.
What is it with Android users’ obsession with the back button? Who actually cares? Why would I want some button that goes back to the wrong app for some reason?
Tell me you haven’t used a back button without telling me.
To TLDR you pretend the back button on android is the back button on your mouse, because it is. Does it seem useful yet?
Back button on a mouse? I use a Trackpad. If I wanted to spend all day slowly navigating the UI click by click I might go back to a mouse.
And by the way, the reason I know it takes you back to an entirely different app than the one you’re using is because I’ve used it before. 😒
It takes you back to the previous view in the stack. Unless the current app was launched from a different app, there will be no other app in the view stack to go back to.
TL;DR: You’re full of shit, and anyone familiar with how Android handles view state under the hood knows it.
Who actually cares?
Every people that complains, for one. And the “back” feature, with apps that follows the guidelines, is quite useful and consistent.
Apple has a universal app switcher gesture that is harder to accidentally invoke. It used to use the home button before for that when it was on the front of the device.
The back button on Android just feels like Chromebook bullshit to me.
Apple has a universal app switcher gesture that is harder to accidentally invoke.
Try teaching your 90-year-old mother to use that fucking gesture. Lol “Apple is so intuitive”.
The back button is just completely unnecessary. Imagine not knowing how to get back to something because the UI is atrocious so you revert to relying on a hardware key. 😷
Android - provides a back button that has the same look, location and functionality system wide so that users don’t how to figure out how each individual application decide to implement (or not) go back functionality
Cousin Mose - the UI is attrocious.
Thanks for letting us know that no one should listen to your opinions on UI / UX ever lol
If everything on Windows is a vibe-coded web app then everything is going to look like different, feel like shit to use, and perform like shit.
I am happy to report: Windows apps that look different, feel shit to use and perform like shit are already available!
E.g. Teams, the CPU warmer from hell, was rolled out to Windows long ago. It was coded for Electron and couldn’t even integrate with Microsoft Windows’ taskbar popups. They had to fake one by creating a window that moved itself up from below the screen. Did this break when you changed resolution? Yes it did. Did it break when you moved the taskbar? Yes it did. Did it break when- YES IT DID
deleted by creator
The NT kernel is one of the better parts of windows.
Introducing the next generation of OS: Microsoft OS AINTtm
Combines the best features of NT with an AI agent that offload everything onto one drive. Requires an internet connection and a Microsoft account to boot, but that’s OK; once the kernel and the drivers are loaded, you can spend two hours in a dose prompt to be able to load files locally
Windows now Chromebooks?
We could view this as “MS pushes for stupid direction that clued-in tech people are opposed to,” or we could view this as “MS gives up on native apps because everyone else of consequence already has.” I hate it but I have eyes.
If AI enhanced coding is really so great, we might expect to see a Renaissance of small, efficient native apps, even on platforms like Android. I’m not holding my breath, though.
Sure, I love it when a 50KB app takes 50MB because some cunt designer only knows HTML.
