Part of the problem is a new twist on the old problem. I don't have to develop for Mac and Windows and Linux, I have to develop for Desktop PCs, Tablets, and Phones. My options are to create a GUI for each of them or use something like Bootstrap to build one that runs on them all, and that has limits and trade offs, but it's still pretty good.
One of the things I've done with this upgrade is provide a way for the user to store their data in the CouchDB native app running on their desktop PC. It's a "local-first" and "offline-first" web app so once it's installed it doesn't need or use an internet connection and while I have no way of making a comparison it appears to me to run pretty close to native app speeds.
When CouchDB is installed on the user's desktop PC any web app configured to use it can use it. It only requires the user fills out a simple web form to set up a user and database for the app.
Taken together, a modern web browser and CouchDB come pretty close to fully featured client side runtime environment for desktop PC web apps. It wouldn't be too hard to create a web app that looks and feels very much like a native app when running full screen on a Mac and Windows.
A client side runtime for web apps is something I've been thinking we need since I built my first web app and that was before they were even called "web apps". I'm not the guy to make that, but I think we need it. CouchDB and a web browser come pretty close.
Of course I could. I was just countering the original point that sounded that web apps are slick just because they're web apps. Making good GUI is hard (well I'd skip Hello world here).
Sorry, maybe that was written ambiguously, because that wasn't the intended point at all. The point I was trying to make was that the web applications that are slick are taking over the world. Being polished and easy to use is a big advantage, and IMHO there's been a lot more progress on this front in web development recently than in native applications.
In contrast, the mobile platforms are far too much style-over-substance and have glaring usability problems as a result.
Most desktop applications haven't really changed their basic form for decades, they just show up with flat icons and kindergarten levels of bright colours these days. That does mean here is a level of consistency and familiarity, which is valuable. However, it also means most of them aren't benefitting from decades of further experience and research in UI design and from newer UI patterns coming out of that experience that have proved to be effective in other contexts.