Concerns About 1P 8 for Mac from a Web and Software Developer

roustem

What exactly is worrying you, gussic ? I see that fear all over the forums and Reddit and I understand some of it but I don't get the fear of web-based technologies (which we are using in 1Password 8 only to render the UI

I think the worry is that even a good Electron App (there's an oxymoron for you) never works as well as a good App built using Apple's native frameworks. Sure a good Electron App might be better than a poorly written native App, but that's about it. Even good Electron Apps are still bad at their core - they make computers run hot, and as we've seen with 1P8 they are significant resource hogs.

With all due respect, using Electron is just lazy development. You're trying to simplify you efforts, which from a business perspective I totally get, to make it a consistent front end. That's great for you and your team, but incredibly poor for the end user.

Many of the Apple's own apps are built with web technologies. There are many Mac apps but how many of them are truly great? The list is quite short and we can probably count them on one hand: OmniGroup, Panic, Fantastical.

I agree the list is short, but you guys used to be in that list. Electron is like a turd, you can polish it as much as you like but at the end of the day it still is crap - and I don't mean that in a nasty way, but its just a fact. It's not web technologies that scare people (although this trend towards it is annoying) its Electron that scares people.

Just making an app "native" will not make it great and it is also possible to build a great user experience with web technologies.

I accept the first part of your statement - the second part I'd say that's the exception rather than the rule, but I would say that the moment you put Electron as your framework of choice for the front end you've basically ruled out having a great user experience on the Mac.

A prime example of why people are worried is the extension as well. We've gone from having a lightweight extension that used barely any memory to one that uses more memory than 1Password 7 did, with all of its attendant processes/helpers. Sure you can optimise it - but can you honestly say you'll get the extension back down to 20 mb of memory usage? No you won't be able to.

What is a user to do? You're stripping away functionality, you will eventually be forcing the use of programs that are significantly more memory than their predecessors, and still charging the same subscription fee. Add to this your comments on reddit where you sarcastically tell a user to go and use iCloud Keychain ... can you really blame users for being upset about the change? It's been incredibly poorly managed by your team.

Why not come out when you were at the fork in the road and ask users what they wanted - laid out the benefits of both and asked? I bet you a lot of people would have preferred 1P8 for Mac had a delayed shipping date if it meant you could get SwiftUI working on it.