Many of these platforms aren't really interested in shifting the _full_ development to the browser (although they could), since that would destroy the business position they're trying to establish for themselves. JS was created to be able to run in the browser, and yet most JS developers insist on still writing or relying on metatooling that can't actually run in the browser, even if that tooling is already written in JS! It requires downloading and installing an SDK/runtime† like NodeJS, or relying on a service provider like GitPod to provide the analog (read: run the same tools, but on machines that they own and that you can communicate with via the browser viewport).

If folks were really committed to improving the developer experience, then instead of what we do now and instead of what services like GitPod and Codespaces propose that we do, development would work like this:

1. Download the project source tree

2. Open README.html

3. Drag and drop the project source _onto_ README.html, which doesn't contain half explanations about setting up the appropriate development environment, so much as it contains an exact description (i.e. in executable code) of the build process—for the benefit of the machine that will perform it (along with these three steps—for the benefit of the human/prospective contributor)

† See <https://www.colbyrussell.com/2019/03/06/how-to-displace-java...>