[mattgreenrocks]

I'm pretty sure I recall the same concessions being made for Swing when Java was up and coming.

(Of course, the difference here is that this is actually happening, but still...)

[generateui]

Another difference is UI startup time. The Java VM took minutes on most computers to go from URI entry to first UI display. Compare that to optimistic rendering all browsers do today, where delay is mostly dependant on network speed.