I don’t think so - the owner of this issue is the tech lead of Progressive Web Apps at Google according to his LinkedIn. He probably envisions a future where GMail can run as a web app on a mobile phone with zero lag. Combined with previous additions to web APIs such as notifications, GMail the web app can be at parity with GMail the native app.

That's cool, I have nothing against improving the experience of any site :)

But I prefer webpages over apps. Especially on mobile.

The apps frensy was over years ago. Nobody wants an app anymore.

For anything I use regularly, I'll choose a native app over a web site or web app every time because they typically consume less battery, cpu, memory, and bandwidth. They are usually also faster and a well written app is always going to feel better than one running in a web browser.

> Nobody wants an app anymore.

News to me. You sure you’re not just projecting your personal preference?

It’s clearly my personal preference, but also my experience that fewer and fewer in my social circles wants “yet another app” when there’s already a website which works fine. Games are the only exception.

And I work with software. None of my colleagues wants to work with or test anything not strictly web-based.

> None of my colleagues wants to work with or test anything not strictly web-based.

If that's true, I'd be willing to bet there's some extreme self-selection going on. Which is fine, but I'd be very careful about generalizing your experience outside of your immediate social circle.

> Nobody wants an app anymore.

Citations needed. I, for one, like apps.

Haven't heard that to anyone in my professional circles and, yes, we all work in software.

Anything worth it is native.