As an Apple guy, thank you for contributing to the platform I use. A lot of advanced networking stuff tends to favour Linux and even Windows. The former I understand… the latter, I grudgingly understand (it sucks but everyone uses it). And no one’s really buying Apple for networking. It’s not like it’s the 90s and networking is stupid hard and AppleTalk makes things make sense. Now everyone’s as good as AppleTalk was. I still think Macs are the best for networking. Wintel desktop, Wintel laptop, same WiFi network, couldn’t see each other no matter what I do. Mac mini desktop, MacBook Air, both signed into the same iCloud, they show up in each other’s Finder (file manager). Even my iPhone can navigate to them. The 10.5TB I have connected to my desktop is available to all my Apple devices. And I basically suck at networking.
You may be aware everyone is pissed at Plex right now because their self hosted media centre software’s lifetime license just tripled from $250 to $750 just a year or two after doubling to $250. I got mine at $90, so I’m not affected, but a lot of people are mad. Rival Jellyfin announced they were quadrupling their price in response — four times zero is still zero, though. Jellyfin is free and will remain so, at least for now. However, Jellyfin isn’t available outside your network. People use a thing called Tailscale which I only know by name, to allow remote access. It seems that it’s a kind of VPN host that allows clients to act as though they’re on the network remotely, and thus access the content remotely. By any chance, does your app do similar?
Again, I suck at networking. I understand some of the terms. I read your post and I read the description on the App Store and I understand some of the thing, but not all. I’m not looking to switch media centres, I’m just saying, if that’s something your app offers, you might have a growing audience. Maybe your app is nothing like Tailscale and I’m way off, but I thought I’d mention it on the off chance.
I self-hosted Plex and Jellyfin on Windows. It’s fine. But as others have said, Windows machines tend to be too power-hungry. Honestly I think that’s more a symptom of x86-64. Changing the OS from Windows to Linux does not magically change the power needs of the hardware. (However, Linux tends to demand less of the hardware, especially if there’s no GUI.)
I now self-host Plex on a Mac mini (M2 Pro, 16GB RAM/512GB SSD). M2 Pro in Intel speak is like i5 as in, it’s the “next one up” and “good enough for most people” but not the low entry into the platform (M# base or i3), though I’d say M4/M5 base is better than M2 Pro. Just like going 2-3 generations newer, the i3 gets closer to and may surpass an older i5.
There’s a reason self-hosters prefer Linux, but I’d think it would be more about the hardware than the software. Windows is problematic because you’re opening ports and Windows is a target due to its massive market share. Mac is kinda (/sorta /not really) UNIX based, and Linux is, well, it’s Linux; neither is bulletproof, but both are better than Windows because they’re not really being targeted. That said, the MacBook Neo and Mac Mini going for $500 if you’re a student, $600 otherwise is getting a lot of people sick of Microslop’s BS to switch, and the Neo in particular is forcing the PC market to get competitive as macOS market share is rising — this also makes it more of a target. You’re always at some risk online and a little common sense goes a long way.