[arpineh]

I don't see that web platform's developers chose to reinvent anything. I would put the blame to Microsoft and other closed system makers of 80's and 90's which prevented development of cross platform applications for open content production and consuming. Thus everything OS's can do (and did even in 60's and 70's), needs to be re-implemented in the browsers, in aggreement. This too has taken a long time for precisely same reasons: companies waging war over platforms to lock users in, embracing and extending fledgling standards.

Web development tools are the best we can use these days if we want to reach the broadest audience, benefit from each others experience and further enchance the platform. Other tools make us choose one walled garden where development is rosy and ideas old, all the while hoping it stays alive long enough. I hope web can do what Engelbart's system did in 1968, but this time as open source, documented, findable and usable by every user with every device connected to the same truly global network.