they don't run without a runtime, and that runtime is backed by glibc, they just moved the issue one more layer.

Virtually all software for the desktop is compiled once and then shipped to users and they never see the source.

This works for Windows and macOS because their ABI allows it. For Linux you have to target each and every distro like a whole OS and keep up with it or your app won't run anymore after a few years.

This is also the reason why Linux has package managers and windows didn't have a official one for nearly 40 years. So its not all bad.