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Comment by the__alchemist | Hacker News Reader

For anyone having a hard time following the comments or mentality: Someone explained in a HN comment a few weeks ago in a comment which has helped clarify in my mind: Web (And especially SAAS) developers make up a large portion of HN users. They use and love frontend frameworks, Node, NPM, and using web tech for many tasks, as a first line of tools.

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You pretend as if this is a totally alien concept, while you yourself use HN in a browser. Literally everyone uses a browser. The whole point of the post is that you don't have to ask your users to do anything other than click on a URL. It is obnoxious to act like you can't understand this.

And with a native app you don't have to ask your users to do anything than double click the App (or tap the icon).

You mean "go to the installation page and choose the correct OS/version, download and install". Compare that to "Click here: https://tinylittleoffice.com/"

The computer already comes with an office suite installed in most cases. And I hope you don't suggest that tiny little office compares, even though it's very neat.

And the place you get your app from usually automatically knows which OS you are on.

And also most web apps of any sophistication demand that you register an account to use them, click the verify email link etc

The post is not about office suites, it is about web apps in general. They are objectively easier for a user to access.

They are not, because you usually have to register, click verification link etc. Installing a native app can often be two clicks.

Not to mention that a native app can work offline.

You were the one to bring up office suites.

More importantly: you don't have to ask your users to hoover up all their data, it is already there in your server!

Not to mention trying to convince them to use the latest version with all the (mis)features it might have: they have no choice!

Why do you think native apps are better? They run directly on your machine without those pesky browser sandboxes, they can grab anything they want!

Because when something is running on my machine i have more control over it and greater ability to inspect what it does. Usually i also put stuff in my machine from reputable sources (e.g. Linux repositories). And for the most part i prefer opensource software that i (or some LLM i point the code at) can check if it does something obviously naughty.

Yes, web apps are fine if i don't trust the source much. As an example i use the web-based version of Discord in a Firefox tab instead of the native version.

> Because when something is running on my machine i have more control over it and greater ability to inspect what it does.

This is not true at all, why do you think this is the case? Can you read binaries?

There are some people who exclusively (or mostly) use open source software. There are practical and philosophical reasons; I am not sure if the parent poster is one, but it is likely from context.

Actually it is very true. And as i wrote in the rest of the comment after the part you quoted, i a) generally install stuff from reputable sources and b) use opensource software.

> This is not true at all, why do you think this is the case? Can you read binaries?

What the hell are you talking about? Do you pretend things like wireshark, debuggers, disassemblers etc. do not exist?

Great as a developer, hideous as an user. I want to click i want to feel happy, thats the amount of work i do as a user

Would you rather use Reddit in a browser or the Reddit app?

Reddit from 2009, with an open API

That's not one of the available choices - it's 2026. Now pick.

Excuse me? Bossy much?

FWiW I've made my choice, I stopped using Reddit on a regular basis more than a decade ago, and used old.reddit for occasional reference and link following until recently (the account/password login requirement) since which I've not been back.

> Because when something is running on my machine i have more control over it and greater ability to inspect what it does.

You live a different universe from me, one where native apps let you run userscripts or press inspect element, and web apps don't.

The developer tooling for the web, all the way down to ECMAScript is awful, but the web platform is powerful. Using node, npm, etc. for anything not targeting the web is an anti-pattern unless your team only understands that tooling.

And on top, most of them know nothing of programming outside their technical domain and could not possible imagine that development can be built on sane and stable foundations.

Me being downvoted without any counter claim only strengthens my observation.

The web is just a better frontend/GUI platform.

"better" is relative.

Web is very ubiquitors. Works on desktop, works on phone, works on raspberry pi, works via cli, agent can browse it, human can browse it.

All you need is a url. You can pass via word of mouth.

The problem with web, is it got complex and jammed. So native apps still have an edge in performance and what they can access in platform.

Google and Apple make billions from their app store fees. So they're not too interested in web apps being as powerful and efficient as native apps.

The web is phenomenal though.

You are just being downvoted, but people like you deserve more severe punishments for the state of tech AD 2026.

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