1Password v8 is a Mistake

I use VScode at work tooI use VScode at work as well. Apart from the fact that the resource consumption is subterranean bad, it is IMHO the only usable Electron app. But only because editors are a bit special anyway.

And it is NOT enough to programmatically imitate the host system as best as possible. For one thing, I have never once seen it REALLY behave natively.

I don't really have the impression that it's easier to develop NATIVE cross-platform applications with Electron than e.g. via C++/whatever + the respective native GUI kit. Handbrake and Transmission are positive examples where this works. Some have to painstakingly (and unsuccessfully) mimic OS behaviour, others have it easy.

We use Teams at work and the thing is just pain-in-the-ass.And on each platform (Windows, macOS and Linux) the thing behaves differently. The respective feature sets are different. On none (Windows being the closest) does Teams feel native. And here too: it eats up resources without end.

@shepstl There is a bit of a truth here. I think the business/enterprise side is important for us.

You can see over that over the past few years every major vendor — Google, Apple, Microsoft have built their own password manager. Once something becomes essential, there will be a free option. Remember when Netscape used to sell the web browser and now it is something that we all expect to be free?

If we want to survive, we have to provide something more. Support for businesses (and families!) is a big part of it.

Now, both Dave and I are still using 1Password everyday. We are Mac users and we want to have the best experience for ourselves.

We agonized over the Electron choice and how it will be received by the community. Yesterday wasn't easy and some of the feedback did hit our team pretty hard. I still think/hope we could pull it off and people will come around 🤞 I know I did — while there is still work that needs to be done, I can't imagine using the old app today.

I think a lot of these complaints could be solved on the mac if they just brought back the native mini menu app.

My absolute no-go is that it will be an Electron app. I am so fed up with Electron apps. They almost always feel wrong. They never behave like native apps. On top of that, they are miserable resource hogs. If you compare Electron apps with their native counterparts, you usually end up with several times the resource requirements.

I will definitely NOT switch to an Electron version of 1Password. Either I have to look for an alternative, or I can continue to use v7 in the future.

1Password on macOS and Android and Firefox.

roustem it's also not fair to degrade the experience mac users have in order to serve this market. This tweet, written 2 years ago, is pretty on point today https://twitter.com/rjonesy/status/1195032113340387329.

@shepstl I can relate. We, Mac users, sometimes have a feeling of superiority when we talk about Windows and Linux. But these users deserve to have great apps. It is not fair to tell everyone to "just buy a Mac" 😇

@ibuys Thank you for the kind words and thank you for supporting us over the years ❤️

@crg9385 You are right. We need a write up and hopefully more. The team is working on it and we'll have more information soon.

Earlier this year, Dave had a post about the 1Password core rewrite in the Linux post but it is missing the work that was done on the Mac side to make the experience native.

As a developer, I use VS Code every day and it became my favourite text editor. I have Sublime, TextMate, SubEthaEdit installed but VS Code is the best editor today and it is based on Electron 🤷‍♂️

cryptochrome

"I feel betrayed"... Jesus, the drama.

Odd, isn't it? How over time we grow accustomed, and even connected, to a piece of software. For those of us who make their living on a Mac these little apps are small bits of joy every time we use them. Especially when we've used them for years and years like 1Password. Over that time I've put all my passwords in it, my MFA codes, copies of my kids drivers licenses and SSN numbers. It's got my passport and all my software licenses. My SSH passphrase and several database details. Lots of stuff.

I was honestly overjoyed when I realized how the 1P MFA worked, since I use that several times a day. Always brought a little smile. These days I'll take a bit of joy wherever I can find it.

So, all that's to say, for the folks who ware genuinely upset at this, I understand. There's no denying that there's a psychological aspect to our relationship to our computers, doubly so in the Mac community. With everything going on in the world I imagine folks are being a little more harsh here (me included) than this actually deserves.

roustem I think what would go a long way to easing everyone's fears is a detailed writeup about 1Password's design philosophy with Electron on the Mac. The benefits / risks of going with Electron, what 1Password is doing to address areas that Electron is infamous for failing at, etc.

If we see a clear vision of where you're going with the Electron that makes the Mac version look, feel, and performance on par or better than what we have with a true native app, that will likely go a long way in the discussion.

Right now, all we know is you're moving to Electron and scattered bits on how you're addressing various issues via tweets and forum posts. So everyone (including myself) is falling back to the current truth: there has never been an Electron app that feels like a first class Mac app. With that truth, we are all afraid our user experience on the Mac (and iOS) is going to forever be compromised by this decision.