This point feels as though the author intends it to function as a 'defeater' -- C++ and Rust are used, therefore VSCode is a bad example (as a neighbor post say

This point feels as though the author intends it to function as a 'defeater' -- C++ and Rust are used, therefore VSCode is a bad example (as a neighbor post says, an 'exception that proves the rule'.) I invite you to consider that the converse may be true: if you can keep things performant by RIIR or even C++, it makes a great case that desktop apps should resemble web apps, with a native backend talking to a JS/CSS/HTML frontend. It does not function as a cautionary tale, but as a compelling proof-of-concept.