It gets difficult when you have users saying they can't connect to each other. Then you have to get a better grasp on networking to understand why they can't, sometimes staring at Chrome's webrtc-internals page hoping something clicks. Otherwise you'll have your hands tied and just assume their network is incompatible. Even with a TURN server configured, the same problem can occur.

I can install Ubuntu in a VM in a hour or so. That doesn't mean Ubuntu or virtual machines are simple pieces of software.

Try to find the RFC, then realize there are actually a million defining all the different protocols used by WebRTC. It is not simple :-).

The protocol and spec mostly, but also the establishment dance and too many knobs. Which client and server libs are you using? Chances are if you dig in their deps it’s messy.

It’s also designed for real-time video and audio (udp), so reliable high-bandwidth streaming p2p apps takes a back seat.

That doesn’t mean it’s not the right choice to build stuff with today, especially browser based real-time apps! I’m all for webrtc getting easier.