There is still required setup for things like PHP, like what reads from the webroot and serves the requests. Other things, like binaries, can be almost completely self-contained and do everything, and then you just move the binary to the server and run it, and you get the full environment needed, no Apache with mod_php required (or what the kids use nowadays)

I'll grant you that.

I also forgot briefly what a complete fucking nightmare instrumenting/debugging PHP (on say, a LAMP stack) can be - which is the inevitable result when PHP decides to behave in "interesting" ways.

I think what the GP is getting at is that one’s personal feelings about Electron do not matter whatsoever. There are fantastic billion dollar products built with the framework, that’s an objective fact. We can criticize it from a technical standpoint all we like, but the market is not something we can out reason.

It’s a bit like calling e-scooters an abomination. It’s just an opinion, and one that certainly isn’t stopping money from being made.