[TraderDuck]

> people there routinely download and install new applications and typically never interact with Facebook, Twitter, Gmail or Instagram via their browsers. Why should the situation be different on the desktop?

Er, because that would be really silly.

I like reading HN from time to time. I would never install an app, because I don't use it frequently enough. I definitely would never go through the pain of installing a HN app every time I wanted to read HN. I really doubt I'm alone or even abnormal in that regard.

That's the beauty of a browser: I can be reading HN in under a second when I want to, with no cluttering of my desktop just so I can read HN from time to time.

[andrewchambers]

I don't imagine HN requires web assembly or javascript to work, so it isn't a good example. But your point is right.

I think maybe application sandboxing is an OS job, and the browser should do the caching and invoking of the operating system sandbox.

[tracker1]

I'll go a step farther, I typically don't install apps on my phoens.. why, because most of them have additional spyware and ask for permissions they should never need... I uninstalled Facebook over a year ago, as it was the biggest battery user... I get annoyed at websites that don't work on my phone, and more so for sites that try to get me to install an app, where there's no advantage to the stand alone app.