It might feel like this, but if you boot up an old Windows XP machine and edit some text, it's still going to feel slow as hell in comparison to Atom on a modern machine. We get used to what's "fast" to do on our computers, and anything significantly slower than that feels "slow". And sure, the software is much less efficient. But compare it on hardware from the time it was developed, and it's not as bad as it seems.

And it's not just about money. With Discord as an example, they are able to quickly develop and deliver a great product, iterate on new features and integrations, and support all major platforms including web browsers. Their choice to use a web based stack helps A LOT with this.

I think it’s an economic reality for for-profit companies that make apps. If company A doesn’t go the html app route, and company B does for the same effective product, company B will have an advantage. It’s almost to the point where if your company app can be developed this way, you must do it this way to stay competitive.