[zilti]

No. PWAs are not a thing on desktops, they still need the entire browser, and they are still just a browser page. That's a far cry from what JavaFX enabled.

[GeneralMaximus]

JavaFX programs needed the Java runtime too, and they were still just Java apps. How is the JRE different from Safari or Edge?

Or is my understanding of JavaFX incorrect, and it somehow turned applets into native binaries when you dragged them out of the browser?

[niutech]

That's correct, JavaFX needs JRE, as well as Java Web Start.