[docmars]

React's first flavor (class-based components) are fully backwards compatible with today's React versions. It doesn't seem odd to me that a popular library identifies its pain points and improves its APIs & patterns over time. That's the beauty of open source software with large communities guiding their growth.

Today, it's moving heavily towards server-side rendering because the client-side / SPA format is already quite mature. Their approach with server components is an optimization path that uses concepts/patterns from already popular server-side languages and frameworks + templating, and blends them seamlessly with client-side development, giving engineers the best of many worlds.

This was a natural evolution from NextJS which popularized this way of using React, and it's giving engineers more choices in how they build + optimize their apps.

[skydhash]

> This was a natural evolution from NextJS

It’s just going back full cycle, with a few extra steps. And the only clear purpose is SEO.

[docmars]

No you're right, but the benefit is: a more consistent dev experience across client and server-side. Being able to write the same components in either environment for specific optimization purposes (static rendering vs. interactions) is a huge plus. It reduces the cognitive overhead of context switching between languages and technologies.