I don't see why web apps should be handicapped compared to their native versions. If it was as easy to download, install, and run native apps, we would be having the same exact conversations in regards to security and portability. In fact, we already are having these conversations in regards to sideloading on iOS and Android devices, and it seems like HN agrees that sideloading should be supported by the OS vendor. The user should be allowed to do what they want with their purchased hardware. There should be no walled garden dictated by a few multi-billion dollar corporations.
So how come this gets twisted on its head when it comes to web apps? The user should be allowed to do what they want, right? So why shouldn't I be allowed to use web apps that interact with bluetooth or USB devices? Why should your philosophical arguments on which software on what platform is allowed to do get in the way of my very real productivity and desire to use my computer the way I want to? Why should I _have_ to use native apps if I don't want to? As a web developer, why do I need to learn Qt or GTK or whatever to ship something useful to end users, when I already know HTML and JS and could easily deliver my product if the right native API was exposed?
And for all the arguments about performance: I never see anyone complaining about un-optimized native apps even though we have all used them before. Remember splash screens? Random freezes? Running out of RAM because some random app in the background decided to malloc 80GB for some godforsaken reason? How is that a better experience than a web app running in a sandboxed tab you could easily kill whenever you want?
So how come this gets twisted on its head when it comes to web apps? The user should be allowed to do what they want, right? So why shouldn't I be allowed to use web apps that interact with bluetooth or USB devices? Why should your philosophical arguments on which software on what platform is allowed to do get in the way of my very real productivity and desire to use my computer the way I want to? Why should I _have_ to use native apps if I don't want to? As a web developer, why do I need to learn Qt or GTK or whatever to ship something useful to end users, when I already know HTML and JS and could easily deliver my product if the right native API was exposed?
And for all the arguments about performance: I never see anyone complaining about un-optimized native apps even though we have all used them before. Remember splash screens? Random freezes? Running out of RAM because some random app in the background decided to malloc 80GB for some godforsaken reason? How is that a better experience than a web app running in a sandboxed tab you could easily kill whenever you want?