Yes, exactly! Not everyone has the hardcore skillset to make great cross platform software. So much so that even behemoths like Microsoft write electron apps to get work done.
He is using his web skillset to make a product that runs everywhere. If anything, this shows some serious good qualities in the developer that he wants to get the product to multiple people and not ponder over perfection.
Giving up 1% of performance every day will give you an app that is twice as slow.
I think its a trade-off between productivity and performance. This skillset used to be non-hardcore just a few years back, just like programming using ASM used to be a non-hardcore skillset before that. The middle ground could be managed languages like C# or Java.
>So much so that even behemoths like Microsoft write electron apps to get work done.
But getting work done != release code. Sure, everyone writes ugly hacks to get stuff done, but usually its either an internal tool or a temporary stop-gap.
>If anything, this shows some serious good qualities in the developer that he wants to get the product to multiple people and not ponder over perfection.
If you're competing with other mail clients that already exist (not identical clones, but more or less similar) , would you want to release something that works or something amazing that takes time, but also has a high chance of not succeeding? Depends on your philosophy. Some people choose the latter.
Actually I meant that 2 years should be enough as well not 5+, given the adequate skillset.
As for Microsoft, I think that have been invaded by JS devs on their way to re-invent and refresh the company's culture.
Regarding the OP, yes he should be appreciated by taking the effort of spending two years doing this software, it is just a pity that it yet another Electron app.
He is using his web skillset to make a product that runs everywhere. If anything, this shows some serious good qualities in the developer that he wants to get the product to multiple people and not ponder over perfection.