There are a lot of valid critiques to be made about the web as a development platform. But the reality of the situation is there was a need for an OS agnostic,

There are a lot of valid critiques to be made about the web as a development platform. But the reality of the situation is there was a need for an OS agnostic, installation free, reasonably sandboxed application platform. A generation of developers turned a document viewer into that application platform, and that's the platform that has stuck with non technical users. I think developer energy is better spent improving performance, keeping the web free, and ensuring Google doesnt own the platform.