Nobody is disagreeing with you that sites that don't really need js shouldn't use js, but that's not what this is about. The browser is very fast becoming THE a

Nobody is disagreeing with you that sites that don't really need js shouldn't use js, but that's not what this is about. The browser is very fast becoming THE application platform for one single reason: accessibility. There is nothing you can do about it, you are fighting a losing battle. It doesn't matter that Javascript is a mess, or that there are security and privacy issues, that doesn't trumps accessibility. And people will want an experience that is more native like. The move to mobile has especially pushed this forward. Surfing the "old" web on mobile sucks more than that accessibility gets you most of the time. But make the web application more native-like, i.e. no round-trips, optimized for touch, responsive UI, offline caching, localstorage etc (which you CAN do even today, but will be better in the future), then the browser wins. In conclusion, the browser is not simply a vehicle for displaying HTML content with links and simple forms anymore, it's an application platform, just get over it.