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How about write an application specifically designed to execute code that you give it in a safe environment. Then you only have to make that application crossplatform and everyone can target it instead. People write for the browser because it is a sandbox, store front, package manager, UI kit all rolled into one. If some smart cookie decides to forget about the web and build to that spec they could come up with a better alternative.

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I've thought about this. The thing is that the current relevant browser environments (basically Safari, Chrome, and Firefox) require, what, a billion dollars a year to maintain? 2 billion? And this doesn't even count the various JavaScript frameworks, auth systems, CDNs, etc.

Any replacement technology/protocol which does the same "write once, use everywhere" thing and manages to perform better would still need to achieve wide adoption. And I feel like users would still want that to be able to play seamlessly with everything in their lives that they have online.

It would certainly be a challenge but there are examples of cross platform applications that have succeeded in the market. The Godot game engine is a good one since it does a similar thing for a different segment of the market. It's cross platform and allows you to build applications that target those platforms and more (even the web!). So these things are within the reach of a small team, or even a single dedicated individual. The important thing is to focus on what matters. Providing a safe environment to run code downloaded from strangers, a set of configurable UI elements and an API for making network and storage requests. You're basically building a VM with a UI kit and some networking. You could probably bootstrap up from something simple since it would likely be a fun platform to target for hobbyists, if you could build a community or scene around it.

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