Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
If we can partially untangle this knot, maybe we can reboot the web for the next platform. Or build new weblike things. I’ve worked on 5 browsers and an operating system, and traced threads of this question through UX, product, strategy, and engineering. I can’t claim to have all the answers, but I think I’ve untangled a few important threads. TLDR: “make the web do apps” is not a disruptive strategy. It's like surviving The Great Oxidation Event, then saying “make anaerobes do photosynthesis”. Ok, but the blue-green algae got there first, so photosynthesis is no longer asymmetric. What? Here’s the longer version. 3 billion years ago, earth’s atmosphere had no oxygen. The sun shone down on a sky of CO2 and N2, the stuff spewed from volcanos. Yet earth teemed with life. Single-celled anaerobic organisms thrived in mud and under shallow seas, absorbing warmth from hydrothermal vents. Then one day, 2.45 billion years ago, a blue-green algae figured out how to eat sunshine. The algae photo
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