>In that case, what would make them "web" apps anymore, as opposed to apps running on a low-level VM and a GPU library? They'd be more like e.g. Java+OpenGL app

>In that case, what would make them "web" apps anymore, as opposed to apps running on a low-level VM and a GPU library? They'd be more like e.g. Java+OpenGL apps. Just that they launch from a web browser? All kinds of non-web technologies do that as well. Yes, distribution via the browser sets apart web apps from native apps. This includes several advantages that I value very much. 1. Cross Platform: If your device runs a modern web browser than there's a high chance it will run any web app that adheres to open web standards. Browsers are unique in that regard because all major vendors make a good effort of working on and implementing the same specifications. Today almost any consumer device is able to run JavaScript. In the future this will include WASM. 2. No gate keepers: Google or Apple can stop developers from publishing an app on their platforms, but they can't stop developers from publishing a web app. To me that's a central promise of the web and severely limits corporations and nation states abilities to taking control of or censoring content.