Porting a 100% local app to the web - James Long

https://actualbudget.com/blog/porting-local-app-web

Great write up by James Long, creator of Actual Budget, on how and why he ported his desktop app to the web. He had a sync engine because mobile, and then started at looking at more advantages.

From a comment on the HN thread:

For web:

  • Easy deployment
  • Better conversion rates (no installation)
  • Easier login flow, support, a/b testing

For desktop:

  • Better tech (sqlite3 in this case)
  • Super fast
  • User owns the data

There is mention of him looking further at CRDTs / Automerge.

Effectively, Fission is attempting to bring all of the advantages on the desktop side, to the web. And we’re doing it by effectively standardizing and commoditizing his custom backend sync / database stuff.

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