PPK's original post was in poor taste and willfully ignored the significant benefits of native apps, but I don't feel like this article is any better.
Yes, the web is trendy, and as such it is full of arrogant wannabe-developer hangers-on making all kinds of ridiculous claims and prognostications. I suppose they deserve to be called out just for being insufferable douchebags, but there is one very important issue being ignored:
The web is a true open standard in a time when computerized technology is crossing the chasm and increasingly the powers that be will seek to control everything in order to squeeze whatever profit they can out of it at the expense of all future progress. I don't really believe companies like Apple are the real problem, but over time, proprietary platforms will provide opportunities for mega-corporations to lock in consumers. Up until 20 years ago or so it was very hard to get any kind of lock-in because it was still mostly early adopters and hackers who owned computers. However once the majority of the world is online, software matures and hardware becomes more complex to manufacture, the inertia of existing technologies will make it harder and harder for disruptive technology to get a foothold.
That is why even though the web is inferior to native APIs by numerous qualitative measures, we need to support the web and really push for more "native" APIs to be build on top of standard tech like javascript (where feasible), and also continue pushing standards to improve.
Fortunately a good chunk of this entrenched, existing technology is open source, especially in the server market. And the GPLv3 closes a lot of loopholes that hardware manufacturers might have used to achieve that lock-in anyway.
I agree with your basic point that the Web is one of the most open "platforms" we have, but I think the dire prognostications for the others are too pessimistic.
Yes, the web is trendy, and as such it is full of arrogant wannabe-developer hangers-on making all kinds of ridiculous claims and prognostications. I suppose they deserve to be called out just for being insufferable douchebags, but there is one very important issue being ignored:
The web is a true open standard in a time when computerized technology is crossing the chasm and increasingly the powers that be will seek to control everything in order to squeeze whatever profit they can out of it at the expense of all future progress. I don't really believe companies like Apple are the real problem, but over time, proprietary platforms will provide opportunities for mega-corporations to lock in consumers. Up until 20 years ago or so it was very hard to get any kind of lock-in because it was still mostly early adopters and hackers who owned computers. However once the majority of the world is online, software matures and hardware becomes more complex to manufacture, the inertia of existing technologies will make it harder and harder for disruptive technology to get a foothold.
That is why even though the web is inferior to native APIs by numerous qualitative measures, we need to support the web and really push for more "native" APIs to be build on top of standard tech like javascript (where feasible), and also continue pushing standards to improve.