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I largely agree, but the argument is "If we rely on plugins, some users will have the plugin and some won't and since users don't install plugins, not everybody will be able to use our $THING".

And it is a somewhat legitimate argument. Whether or not it justifies having the browser subsume everything is, IMO, an open question.

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I think if we decide heavily siloing / sandboxing is the right thing for software generally, then what you want to do is build an operating system that works that way (kind of like iOS, but with provisions to enable better data sharing so that you can actually make things with that OS).

This would be TREMENDOUSLY better than trying to make the browser into an OS.

What do you think about a browser tab that loads a VM running Linux running OpenJDK that runs a full Java application in its own sandboxed OS instead of an applet, with some mechanism for file transfer to the host OS? You could also support any other language, WINE, Mono, whatever. The point is having a sandboxing mechanism that gives existing native code first class status in the browser. Too hacky?

I agree. I used to be anti mobile app until I came to the same realization. Did you see https://www.qubes-os.org/ posted earlier today? It looks like an interesting sandboxing approach.

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