By offering a subset of their capabilities, with key features implemented in a multi-process architecture, using plenty of C++ and Rust written modules.
Additionally the terminal has to use WebGL to achieve usable performance.
Additionally the terminal has to use WebGL to achieve usable performance.
Which is exactly the point—the UI is written in HTML/CSS, not the native platform language, and the high-performance modules are written in C++ and Rust, also not the native platform language.
MSHTML and XUL eventually lost into obscurity, Electron will follow their footsteps.
I invite you to consider that the converse may be true: if you can keep things performant by RIIR or even C++, it makes a great case that desktop apps should resemble web apps, with a native backend talking to a JS/CSS/HTML frontend. It does not function as a cautionary tale, but as a compelling proof-of-concept.
As usual in this industry, those that have been around long enough have already been through this fashion statement.