alt Hacker NewsGreat project! I'm also maintaining a fully in-browser data visualisation/analytics tool [1] and I often found it hard to convince people that their data isn't sent anywhere. It's funny I also say the exact same thing that they can inspect the Network tab. As a potential alternative to open-sourcing the codebase, maybe a desktop version of the same tool (i.e. an Electron app) could help address the privacy concerns if it explicitly states that it won't make network calls, although it's a perception problem rather than a technical one.
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I'm 50% sure adding a "Install offline app" button that installs PWA would be enough to make them believe otherwise
Add a "Check for updates" button that redirects to chamgelog page in browser for extra points
Another alternative proposition to test data (non)upload is to ask your user to load the app, shut their device connection off and then use the app. The more cautious one will close the tab before switching the connection on.
Thanks, and cool project you've built!
Yeah, you're right on that it's perception problem rather than tech. It's interesting because it's much less intuitive to inspect the code/network requests for a desktop app which on it's face seems less transparent than something on the web, but the kicker is that there is no URL that you're accessing it from so it feels safer.
I'm thinking now actually if I did a PWA? I think it has the psychological benefit of feeling of an offline desktop app (which it can function as), but is lightweight and less maintenance than an Electron app, while still having the benefit of automatically updating when I make improvements without needing to manually make updates.
Where I'm struggling on the open-source question is that in the PDF use case most of them are not developers and don't know what open source is let alone host it lol. And most businesses can probably afford to pay a nominal fee to host it themselves and modify it if they wish, which many companies offer. It would be different if the product was something like a database or code package where it's always going to be a developer using it.
While open source might actually have more "freedom" for people to modify it for free initially, in a way it can be more honest for a developer with any commercial intentions to not open source something while offering paid ways to modify the source code, as we're seeing more and more that companies start out with a very open source product that they then revert once the community has helped develop it. Not that it needs to happen that way, but with commercial aspirations one needs to be careful as something becomes popular, it becomes too tempting to take back once open-source parts.
Forgive the wall of text here, I'm thinking out loud haha. Appreciate your comment!