Re:Sketch: Proud to Build a Truly Native Mac App
by dharma1 on Wednesday October 28, 2020 @07:31AM
(#24917556)
I think platform specific frameworks that won't work anywhere else easily will be detrimental to Apple in the long term. I think it's ultimately in Apple's interest to try to make tooling that enables MacOS/iOS apps to work on other platforms too, including the web.
Even their own apps would benefit from this. What if iMessage and FaceTime were cross-platform? Short term, maybe it was a moat for Apple - but now there are so many other cross-platform apps which will slowly kill the Apple-only ones because of network effects (pronounced in chat/calling/social apps).
I think iMessage and FaceTime could have taken significant market share from WhatsApp and Zoom/Skype - this will become even more relevant when those apps become more platform-like (WeChat style).
Re:Sketch: Proud to Build a Truly Native Mac App
by mihaela on Wednesday October 28, 2020 @07:22AM
(#24917492)
They are not stuck, they are just being smart. All multi-platform tools are of lower fidelity and disjointed tooling, making it a horrible experience for a developer and a much lesser one for the user. When was the last time you saw a designed without a Mac? Adobe is sherlocking Sketch the same way MS is copying Slack. You really want each and every app on your PC to come with a full Node runtime? That is worse even than the infamous DLL-hell from the past. Enjoy it, I won't.
Re:Sketch: Proud to Build a Truly Native Mac App
by addandsubtract on Wednesday October 28, 2020 @07:13AM
(#24917447)
It's their way of sucking up to Apple to be featured in the next WWDC as a prime example of first-party software.
Re:Sketch: Proud to Build a Truly Native Mac App
by Andrew_nenakhov on Wednesday October 28, 2020 @07:23AM
(#24917508)
I don't think they will be ever featured, because they left AppStore and are selling their software directly, without paying Apple Tax.
Re:Sketch: Proud to Build a Truly Native Mac App
by gemvox on Wednesday October 28, 2020 @07:58AM
(#24917723)
Adobe apps also get featured and they are not on the App Store.
Re:Sketch: Proud to Build a Truly Native Mac App
by sjwright on Wednesday October 28, 2020 @10:26PM
(#24926425)
Not their entire suite, but Photoshop Elements and Lightroom are in the Mac App Store. You can even buy a subscription to Lightroom with in-app purchases.
And of course Adobe has many apps in the iOS App Store.
The underlying rendering tech is based on Apple frameworks so they are not "home". They are stuck. What a nice way of saying it.
Targetting a single platform and taking advantage of its features is totally fine for a small developer or niche app. It's a lot easier to get going, maintenance costs are lower.
However for a big app like Sketch cutting corners like that becomes a liability in the long term. Porting to another platform would mean rewriting the rendering layer or reimplementing the system frameworks to keep their designs work 1:1. It's now a huge strategic disadvantage.