Did we lose our way in making efficient software? — ~30 MB doc file vs browser
Yesterday, my father told me he needed to install Microsoft Word on his laptop to work on his doc file.
He also wanted to transfer his doc file to his work computer to continue to work on it when he is at the office. I thought a web app might be good for him.
I showed him the Google Docs option because he already has a Google Account, and it is easier to use, cloud-based, and syncs automatically.
I set up his doc file in Google Docs, and… When I type anything in the doc file, it takes seconds to see it on screen. The doc file size was ~30 MB, and contains some images, and simple tables but mostly text. Unfortunately, Chrome and/or Google Docs couldn’t handle it.
He didn't want to pay for Microsoft Office. So, I installed LibreOffice for him. I also tested the doc file on it. It was quicker than The Flash.
After this, I kept thinking about today’s software standards. Are we going backward about performance-wise software development? Are the newest, cool, modern tools, frameworks, and languages taking us backward efficiency-wise?
The hardware specs have increased to handle resource-intensive web applications, which wouldn’t be necessary if we only had pure native apps. For instance, why do mobile phones need 16 GB of RAM?
The web needs native rendering instead of some UI rendering engine wrappers. You can’t open a ~30 MB Word file in Google Docs on a well-spec laptop because the browser needs more memory and CPU usage.
We lost our way of developing optimized, efficient, and performance-wise applications. We need to solve this issue. Even the 2K of RAM Apollo computer (1966) took humanity to the moon, but you can’t work on a ~30 MB doc file in a browser in 2024.
I’m focused on the web because today everyone in the industry is also concentrating on PWA applications for the future.
Thank you for reading!
