I really want React for desktop apps. Currently we are running into some performance issues with large datasets and spreadsheets, and being able to offer a performant desktop app would be ideal.
Right now we're considering using .NET and ReoGrid, since Qt is too expensive and we only target Windows anyways.
You can use Electron and do that. Not a ton of love for it around here because omg a web page as a desktop app the horror but I've had good experiences with it. (And if you e ever used Slack or Atom, you've used Electron)
>You can use Electron and do that. Not a ton of love for it around here because omg a web page as a desktop app the horror but I've had good experiences with it.
Parent specifically mentions they want to get away from the performance issues of web apps [1] -- and you suggest they use Electron -- and even bring up Atom and Slack as examples, the worst CPU/slowness offenders of all time?
[1] "Currently we are running into some performance issues with large datasets and spreadsheets, and being able to offer a performant desktop app would be ideal"
You can use Electron to handle performance-sensitive large datasets and spreadsheets for a desktop app. But I think there is an even better solution for this: you could program it in DOS 5.0 batch and ship it with a Windows 3.1 VM to really juice out that last bit of performance and efficiency.
.NET and WPF is a great choice for desktop applications. I have been creating desktop applications with WPF for the better part of a year, I find it very nice.
If you have a performance problem and you only target one OS, using React seems more like a band-aid than a real solution. I assume your app is currently written in javascript, because I don't see any other reason to use React for performance.
I think you should consider moving away from JS, it will probably save you from future problems.
It was originally supposed to be (and built as) a web app, but it's only being used inside a corporate network (yay requirements). So that defeats the original purpose. Might as well make a desktop app.
Right now we're considering using .NET and ReoGrid, since Qt is too expensive and we only target Windows anyways.