zlacker

Remember how Java applets and Java desktop applications took over the world?

A big part of the reason they didn't is the reason that people dislike these fake-native web-apps; they just don't feel right.

>>rsynno+(OP)
Web apps (as in what we used to call websites that did stuff instead of just displaying content, not PWAs) did take over the world, enabling the (slow) downfall of Windows. They didn't feel like native Windows apps either, and the web stack was far worse back then.

There's two big differences:

- There was an unsatisfied need back then to move your apps and data with you as you moved to another PC. The phone moves with you.

- Microsoft couldn't prohibit Mozilla and Google from writing non-crippled Windows web browsers. Apple learned from that "mistake" and won't let it happen on iOS.