Canonical: Flutter now 'the default choice for future desktop and mobile apps'
- Reference: 1616432708
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/03/22/canonical_flutter/
- Source link:
Flutter is a [2]framework using the Dart language that targets Android, iOS, Windows, Linux, macOS, and web applications – though the macOS and Linux versions are [3]"considered beta quality" .
[4]
Despite that limitation, Canonical declared last month that it would [5]build new desktop installers in Flutter. Now the company has gone further, pointing developers to a statement by VanDine, who [6]said that "Flutter is the default choice for future desktop and mobile apps created by Canonical" and that the Flutter SDK is available from the Snap Store, making it easy for developers to get started.
Google's multi-platform app framework Flutter reaches version 2, expands to the web [7]READ MORE
[8]
Last week Ubuntu product manager Rhys Davies [9]said that a Flutter app can look native thanks to "a collection of widgets modelled purposefully after native Ubuntu desktop designs" and that "Flutter has better performance than alternatives such as Electron and while it isn't as performant as native development platforms, it does so well that the ability to develop for multiple platforms and across operating systems outweighs the difference."
The goal, it seems, is to encourage more developers to build apps for Ubuntu. "Cross-platform development doesn't just mean Linux developers can write apps for other platforms, it means Flutter developers for any other platform can contribute their apps to Linux and expand the Linux app ecosystem," said Davies.
Looks matter
Ubuntu is among the most popular Linux desktop distributions so it is an influential backer for Google's framework. The value of cross-platform frameworks is endlessly debated, though, with the productivity of developing once for multiple targets set against the compromises that entails, both in performance and in platform integration.
Despite Canonical's reassurances on this subject, there is risk of what Thoughtworks chief scientist Martin Fowler, writing a decade ago, [10]called the "uncanny valley", where a user interface looks nearly right but "there are just enough tiny differences to throw users off."
Canonical turns to Google framework for new installer, but community asks why not have a Flutter on GTK? [11]READ MORE
Fowler said that "you may notice that cross-platform apps have, on the whole, not been successful" and that "if it's worth building a native app, it's worth building it properly, including an individual experience design for that platform."
Ten years on, cross-platform technology has improved and there are plenty of examples of successful applications such as Visual Studio Code, the productivity suite LibreOffice, or the audio editor [12]Audacity .
[13]
There is a still a cross-platform overhead, though, and an argument that first-party applications for a platform should be fully native in order to show off the best that platform can offer. Anointing a cross-platform toolkit as default therefore does introduce risks, despite the appeal of an expanded application ecosystem. ®
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[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdrCyS7EF8M&t=205s
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/03/google_allinone_app_framework_flutter/
[3] https://flutter.dev/docs/development/tools/sdk/release-notes/supported-platforms
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YFkhke6UZjW@4a2srLDKtwAAAJc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/03/canonical_turns_to_google_flutter/
[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdrCyS7EF8M&t=205s
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/03/google_allinone_app_framework_flutter/
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YFkhke6UZjW@4a2srLDKtwAAAJc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://ubuntu.com/blog/flutter-and-ubuntu-so-far
[10] https://martinfowler.com/bliki/CrossPlatformMobile.html
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/03/canonical_turns_to_google_flutter/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/19/audacity_3/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YFkhke6UZjW@4a2srLDKtwAAAJc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
They are just pulling a page out of Google's "Do no evil" manifesto....
Canonical should get with the times, then ... Alphagoo dropped the "do no evil" thing like a hot rock years ago. Seems it got in their way. I guess even the evil among us have ethics of a sort.
Ubuntu really doesn't want to succeed on the desktop, do they? Constantly fiddling with incompatible and barely beta quality software that they shovel down users' throats.
The first thing I do with an Ubuntu system is install *stock* Gnome and Mate. I *despise* Canonical's home grown desktop. For that matter, the vast majority of the UI components they developed in-house have been sloppy and bug-ridden, and it is long past time they started addressing such issues.
For example, try installing Ubuntu Server on a box, and then try to upgrade to use the NVidia drivers. You can't, because the network management stack isn't supported by Ubuntu's desktop code. There is absolutely no technical reason it can't be done other than Canonical incompetence and slopiness.
Be nice to Canonical! They are doing their best to emulate Industry Standards, taking their lead from Microsoft. Is it any wonder they have been lead astray?
"if it's worth building a native app, it's worth building it properly, including an individual experience design for that platform."
Build 6 different experience designs? Do you call this common sense? And who's paying the cost?
>Build 6 different experience designs?
Don't see the problem, yes there is a cost to it, however, we managed it back in the 70's thru to 90's using more limited toolsets than are available today... Suggest if modern developers can't handle itthen it speaks volumes about their coding abilities...
Now whether it is cost-effective and who is willing to pay that is a different question and yes downward pressure on costs means companies will want to build once for all platforms, but then expect to get the daftness of TIFKAM across all devices.
I give Canonical some credit --
-- for creating an exceptionally vigorous and popular (for Linux) branch on the Debian tree. Mint, Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Zorin, Kodachi, Trisequel, etc. Snap application packaging, too, which at least occasionally keeps an install from dropping through the Earth's crust into dependency hell.
I never much liked the stock Ubuntu desktops. But perhaps -- as similarly mentioned about Stallman in another comment thread -- it takes a brainstorming organization to breach some barriers, while more staid and thoughtful ones consolidate and refine the new territory.
Maybe the Fluttery subject at hand will turn out to be a useful branch on the application development tree.
Or not.
Swapped from Microsoft for a reason
The security was a headach but the real downer was waiting for everything. 20 or more minutes to do a bloody directory listing,hours to start up and shut down. Performance is required not negotiable
Develop once for multiple targets?
Where have I heard that before?
I have this bridge for sale, one owner, lightly used, in great condition. Offered as is, where is. Any reasonable offer will be considered.
I stopped using Ubuntu just before the Unity debacle...and they still don't seem to have a clue what they're doing. If they're so keen to be in the pockets of Google and/or Amazon why don't they just drop the pretence and be honest about it?
There isn't anything wrong per se with a distro making these connections, but it's annoying when they still carry the "Humanity" and "caring" labels which increasingly don't seem to apply.