Using Win32 to write a UI in Windows is like pulling teeth. There are bindings for Rust but even still it's a nightmare.
MacOS is slightly better but Apple's anti-competitive practices targeting developers makes it a tough sell. Linux is better still, technically, but due to the fragmented desktop environment landscape and distribution difficulties, it's also a hard sell.
I think it's fair to say that the entire story for native app development is a mess - which is most likely why Electron became so popular. There just isn't a practical sane alternative.
The sane alternative is macOS because there is one thing that Windows lacks; a community. Since 1984, there have been boutique developers who have spent their whole career working on macOS, making it better and living the dream of working on consumer software.
When I look at the apps on Windows, all I see are abandoned projects and MVPs with a borderline malware financial structure.
> Since 1984, there have been boutique developers who have spent their whole career working on macOS, making it better and living the dream of working on consumer software.
Microsoft has had even more people working on Windows software..
"Developers, Developers, Developers!" - Steve Balmer
Microsoft has always had vastly more developers and development of software for Windows.
Apple still after all these years has a tiny market share of overall platforms, software, all of it really.
Not sure how you can suggest Apple is somehow the bastion of software development. If you write mac software, you'll be targeting a platform with 15-20% market share at best.
Isn't software development about making money? On phones, if you want to make money you have to target iOS, since this is where you have the people with money to spend on software. Do you believe that the vastly larger installed base of Windows guarantees more money for everyone?
At a previous workplace, we released certain software targeted at media/videography professionals for macOS first. The immediate response at conferences was, 'do you have a Windows version? We all use Windows.' Once we ported our software to Windows, the uptake was easily 1.5 orders of magnitude greater than for macOS.
The era of 'macOS is a better media computer' is long gone.
>On phones, if you want to make money you have to target iOS
It's funny that you think Android users are broke-ass nobodies. That's some reality-distortion-field fanboi nonsense. And it's also hilarious that you think phone apps are useful software that costs lots of money.
Most people in tech with high-paying jobs that I know are using Android, because it's actually pretty awesome compared to the locked-down walled-garden that is Apple. More than half my friends use Android or Windows. They use Android because it isn't as locked-down as iPhone. They use Windows because it runs all the software they want it to run. We also really don't care about Apple's blue bubbles.
No, Apple users are not the only ones with jobs. Plenty of Android users have plenty of disposable income. It's a ridiculous argument to make that Apple users have more money to spend.
>Do you believe that the vastly larger installed base of Windows guarantees more money for everyone?
I don't have to believe it, the market believes it. People vote with their dollars, and they aren't voting for Apple all that often worldwide. Plenty of wealthy people use Android and Windows. I'd wager that most big companies are still run on Windows - and I know this experientially, from back in the day setting up computers for major corps, it was 85% Windows, 15% Apple. Always was, always will be.
Way to go with anecdata to try and disentangle your feelings from reality. Come back when you have cold hard facts. With 27% of the market, they make twice as much money on their app store.
Making money does not equate to popularity. It only means their users are suckers for overpaying. $1000 for a monitor stand? $700 for 4 tiny wheels? Yet people pay these absurd prices for their niche over-hyped and over-priced hardware. "A fool and their money are soon parted."
Then how do you square that Apple has a billion worldwide users? They're all fools? Everybody who bought an iPhone is an idiot? There's no way an 900$ iPhone is a good purchase when the equivalent device that Samsung advertises as a competitor is over a thousand bucks?
You lost my interest when you suggested that iPhone was the platform to target because those users have all the money to spend. This pointless internet interaction is over.
I've been a fulltime Linux user for years but there are tons of excellent Windows-only apps.
Here are some that I miss: Directory Opus, ShareX, Wiztree, Everything, AltDrag, AutoHotkey, Paint.NET, irfanview, SumatraPDF. I'd add Keepass2 as well but fortunately KeepassXC is a thing.
Those are all feature-filled (in the bloat-free good way) and they've all been around for over a decade (from memory). Most are free and open source to boot.
MyLifeOrganized was the biggest thing I gave up when I switched to Mac in 2013. Still miss it -- nothing else (Omnifocus, Things, outliners, etc) has been as effective as a system for me. They've been talking about a potential Mac app for year, I'm on the waiting list, but I've given up hope that it'll ever come. Even if it does, I doubt it'll be as good as it is on Windows.
Comparing oranges to apples.
Win32/Win API is (one of) the native API to do Windows programming.
Pure C is not the native way to do application programming on macOS. As I mentioned elsewhere, you can bring up a window with a button with no code on macOS. You can make that button show a string on a label with a handful lines of code.
MacOS is slightly better but Apple's anti-competitive practices targeting developers makes it a tough sell. Linux is better still, technically, but due to the fragmented desktop environment landscape and distribution difficulties, it's also a hard sell.
I think it's fair to say that the entire story for native app development is a mess - which is most likely why Electron became so popular. There just isn't a practical sane alternative.