Microsoft produced apps that no one used because they were horrible on all devices. Apple conceded defeat and we have different interfaces on each device class.

This is another UX death march like flat interfaces without cues and mystery meat.

I think is pretty clear that they work. Look at responsive web pages.

Apple hasn't conceded defeat. Every release of MacOS becomes more and more like iOS. Apple keeps releasing tools, such as Catalyst, to make it easier for iOS developers to get their apps to run on MacOS. Apple is very much pursuing convergence between iOS and MacOS, to the latter's detriment.

Apple want you to get 80% of the way there, then do the last 20% of tailoring it to the device.

There isn't some magic unicorn toolkit which can do that last 20%.

In practice that never happens. Developers make their mobile app, use the automated tool to make it into 80% of a desktop app, hit the publish button and proudly advertise, "Hey, look, we have a desktop app now!"

Maybe it's fine for Apple and Google to ruin their desktop UIs like that. Maybe they don't care, or, more likely, they think that catering to the vast majority of users who are on mobile is an acceptable tradeoff for alienating the few of us who still prefer desktops as their primary computing device.

But why does Linux have to tread that same path?

It doesn't, which is the beauty of open source. If enough people value this as much as you clearly do, there will always be options out there.

And, if there aren't enough people then you always have the (less practical, but still doable) option of rolling your own.

https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Freque...

Web designers now have toolboxes to design web pages, which they adjust for mobile or desktop in order to get easier readability and use.

Except, web designers don't adjust web pages for mobile or web. They adjust pages for mobile, and then what you end up in a desktop web browser is acres of white space and buttons that are the size of your head.

The way I see it, this is Linux UI framework developers chasing Apple, Microsoft and Google's taillights yet again. Sure, Apple, Google and Microsoft don't care, but that's because they're trillion dollar companies and they have to go where the majority of the customers are. But why does Linux have to go there too? Why can't Linux UI framework developers focus on an under-appreciated niche (desktop "power" users) which are increasingly neglected by the megacorps?

I had to laugh at this.

I am writing a PWA now and this is definitely an issue in "desktop mode".

The thing is though, with giant monitors (I develop on a pair of 4k curved ultra-wides) there is so much room that most non-game apps just don't need all that much space. If you do use it all, it becomes cumbersome to move the mouse all the way to the corners because it is so far away. And even if you did use it, there would still be acres of unused space most likely, white or some other color.

I suppose you could do a true re-write and put multiple mobile screen onto one desktop screen, but that would be a very heavy lift and in the case of a saas app that will largely be used on mobile, it is pretty easy to understand why it never gets done. Bad cost-benefit and it would delay your launch.

Not for discoverability or visual things.