>The web won because it has the least barriers to entry for a new developer and solves a lot of difficult problems that the old-school application stack had.
I think the web won because the users prefer it over downloading applications. That's not surprising, as 90%+ of users don't even use an operating system with a package manager.
Doesn't it? App stores share much of the virtues of package managers. And with the 90% comment being what it is it's fairly clear mobile is not the subject of the grandparents comment.
Also the discussion is rather pre-mobile. Mobile actually has nearly all of the positives, except os fragmentation, that were referred to in the root comment.
I think the web won because the users prefer it over downloading applications. That's not surprising, as 90%+ of users don't even use an operating system with a package manager.