Published 2016-11-24 on Drew DeVault's blog — Permalink Yeah, I know that “considered harmful” essays are allegedly considered harmful . If it surprises you that I’m writing one, though, you must be a new reader. Welcome! Let’s get started. If you’re unfamiliar with Electron, it’s some hot new tech that lets you make desktop applications with HTML+CSS+JavaScript. It’s basically a chromeless web browser with a Node.js backend and a Chromium-based frontend. What follows is the rant of a pissed off Unix hacker, you’ve been warned. As software engineers we have a responsibility to pick the right tools for the job. In fact, that’s the most important choice we have to make when we start a project. When you choose Electron you get: An entire copy of Chromium you’ll be shipping with your app An interface that looks and feels nothing like the rest of the user’s OS One o...