I agree that the web platform is kind of messed up, but web apps are just so accessible and convenient...
For essential apps, I believe most people would always prefer native versions. They are more convenient that way. (I don't want my local media player to be a tab in Chrome.) People generally are not using Google Docs because they are robust or feature packed. They use them because they could just load it up in a few seconds on a new machine, with nothing to install and everything synced in the cloud.
Actually, I think if there is a platform which allows users to run ANY apps with just one click, it has to be a platform just like the web we have right now. Sure, if JavaScript were not made in a hurry, we could have got a lot of efforts spared - but dialects and attempts to “reimagine” and "personalize" our weapons are still going to show up, maybe just like all those frameworks and workflows we have right now. (Seriously, why are there so many NATIVE UI libraries? So many OS's? So many NATIVE programming languages?)
Yes, we ARE reinventing the wheels, but for a good reason - accessibility. All apps from every generation do similar things: typing docs, filling in spreadsheets, instant messaging, playing music... In fact, humans ALWAYS have done similar things - they wrote stuff and kept lists long before MS Office came along. The web is an upgrade, thanks to the better computing power we have to allow "inefficient" non-native rendering nowadays. The "native" apps we have now can do their fancy new 2017 stuff. Maybe soon we will have full blown AutoCAD as a web version. Many native apps we have today are almost awesome enough - the natural tendency would be to make them more accessible.
For essential apps, I believe most people would always prefer native versions. They are more convenient that way. (I don't want my local media player to be a tab in Chrome.) People generally are not using Google Docs because they are robust or feature packed. They use them because they could just load it up in a few seconds on a new machine, with nothing to install and everything synced in the cloud.
Actually, I think if there is a platform which allows users to run ANY apps with just one click, it has to be a platform just like the web we have right now. Sure, if JavaScript were not made in a hurry, we could have got a lot of efforts spared - but dialects and attempts to “reimagine” and "personalize" our weapons are still going to show up, maybe just like all those frameworks and workflows we have right now. (Seriously, why are there so many NATIVE UI libraries? So many OS's? So many NATIVE programming languages?)
Yes, we ARE reinventing the wheels, but for a good reason - accessibility. All apps from every generation do similar things: typing docs, filling in spreadsheets, instant messaging, playing music... In fact, humans ALWAYS have done similar things - they wrote stuff and kept lists long before MS Office came along. The web is an upgrade, thanks to the better computing power we have to allow "inefficient" non-native rendering nowadays. The "native" apps we have now can do their fancy new 2017 stuff. Maybe soon we will have full blown AutoCAD as a web version. Many native apps we have today are almost awesome enough - the natural tendency would be to make them more accessible.