Browsers are not the right tool for sandboxing applications. I don't think it was a mistake, but it's time to take what we've learned and move to the next level.
With a bytecode like wasm, you can create an "app runner" program that's at least an order of magnitude less complicated than current browsers. Just ship apps as wasm binaries with a simple interface (maybe WASI, haven't taken the time to dig into it yet) for requesting/providing filesystem, networking, graphics, etc resources (if you think this sounds like java, see [0]).
And I think there's room for diversity here. I can imagine a world where it's normal to have 3-4 different app runners installed on your system. Developers would target one of these runners for their app, depending on needs (performance, GUI libs provided, security guarantees, etc), and tell you which app runner you need for the app.
[0]: https://steveklabnik.com/writing/is-webassembly-the-return-o...
With a bytecode like wasm, you can create an "app runner" program that's at least an order of magnitude less complicated than current browsers. Just ship apps as wasm binaries with a simple interface (maybe WASI, haven't taken the time to dig into it yet) for requesting/providing filesystem, networking, graphics, etc resources (if you think this sounds like java, see [0]).
And I think there's room for diversity here. I can imagine a world where it's normal to have 3-4 different app runners installed on your system. Developers would target one of these runners for their app, depending on needs (performance, GUI libs provided, security guarantees, etc), and tell you which app runner you need for the app.
[0]: https://steveklabnik.com/writing/is-webassembly-the-return-o...