> However, assertions that web apps are inherently inferior and that web apps are only written by people who couldn't bother to learn native technologies is at best ignorant and at worst lacking empathy with the requirements and constraints, and in turn with end users empowered with choice.<p>Well, "inferior" is always a subjective claim. The real problem with Electron, besides perhaps resource consumption, is that web apps are not native apps and native apps have all kinds of idioms, integrations, etc. A selling point of Electron is that it has "native menus." That's it. Just native menus.<p>They do not have, for example, proxy icons. They usually don't have system-wide services integration. They can't be automated with AppleScript. The print dialog are almost always weird, etc.<p>There are similar idioms on Gnome, KDE, etc. Think about header bars or Adwaita in Gnome. Or ssh filesystem support in KDE.<p>All these things make users more productive. If you really know your way around a desktop environment, and you know all the tricks, you can be massively productive with native apps. You'll never be similarly productive, however, with even the best Electron apps.<p>The mistake the author is making here is conflating a "good" app in isolation with a good app in a desktop environment. An Electron app which is an amazing app in isolation, with thoughtful design and efficient code and useful features, is always a bad app in any actual desktop environment. Putting an Electron app in MacOS or Gnome or KDE is like putting gummy bears in tacos or lasagna. Gummy bears are good. Tacos are good. But they don't belong together.<p>So where are Electron apps actually good? I'm guessing ChromeOS. Otherwise, they always kind of suck, even the $25k Electron apps at Bloomberg. And while I hesitate to make blanket statements, I have yet to use a single Electron app I actually want to use, ever. They're always, and this is without exception, garbage on any desktop environment I actually want to use. Full stop.