Even the ESP32 is a bit "like a computer" compared to most microcontrollers. It's usually used with its stock RTOS which has its own tasks for WiFi, HTTPS, etc.

Even the ESP32 is a bit "like a computer" compared to most microcontrollers. It's usually used with its stock RTOS which has its own tasks for WiFi, HTTPS, etc. and has a filesystem. Your apps are separate modules inside the RTOS system which sticks around. That's not a super unusual setup for a microcontroller system, though those types of systems were often larger industrial systems running WindRiver VxWorks, etc. not cheap chips for your IoT lightbulbs. Even when using an RTOS my perception is the most common setup is that the RTOS is just compiled and linked into your firmware image like any other library. It was a bit of a culture shock when I started using ESP32s because I can't buy STM32s anymore. I'm a bit of a control freak when it comes to embedded systems and I didn't like the idea of having someone else's code control so much of the chip, but it's the pragmatic choice.