How does this differ from any other file hosted on the web? I could make an address that just serves a .exe file, but people wouldn't say that Microsoft is kneecapping the web because of it.
I expect that they'll give Instant Apps higher ranking. It's what they did with Google+ profiles and AMP pages. If Google gives people better SEO by converting their pages to native apps then that's a huge carrot for businesses to move their development to this platform. And the web is going to be made a second class citizen, even in the browser.
Google wins because they have companies and consumers locked into their ecosystem. Apple and Microsoft lose because they can't run Instant Apps like they can with web apps. Consumers lose because they're locked into Android.
If Microsoft were doing this it would be viewed with skepticism and labeled "Embrace, extend, extinguish". I think that eventually we're going to realize that having a single company control the world's most popular OS, most popular browser and most popular entry point to the web is a not a good place to be in.
1. http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2016/05/android-insta...
I use Papercut as a little SMTP server for local dev on windows which uses ClickOnce, the install + update processes are painful, even worse than Adobe Flash Builder.
I just ran it, it updated needing 2 clicks and over 4 different popups shown.
It's an invasive, noisy, ugly, tech that was put to shame by Chrome's update tech.
So it's not worth comparing.
At least the ones I worked on.