Electron certainly isn't the first thing to give "write once, run anywhere", let alone good enough to satisfy users. I groan every time I download an app only t

Electron certainly isn't the first thing to give "write once, run anywhere", let alone good enough to satisfy users. I groan every time I download an app only to discover it's Electron based. Java beat Electron to write-once-run-anywhere by a couple of decades, and still does in the sense that Electron requires you to make platform-specific builds of your app even if the core code is the same (Java gives you that option but doesn't require it, you can still distribute a jar or web start file). Meanwhile, Electron has managed the feat of being even bloatier than Java is. The DOM was never designed for GUIs and the terrible performance of web and Electron based apps is a testament to that. At least Java apps tend to have meaningful menu bars and context menus. Electron satisfies web devs who have either never written desktop apps in other frameworks, or did decades ago and think nothing improved there. They "satisfy" users in the sense that users are rarely offered any alternative so have to suck it up and tend to judge web apps against each other vs a well coded, tightly written desktop app (office suites being a notable exception).