If you _only_ care about the number of users, then I see a point. However, at least for non-commercial programs, why care at all about the number of users?
The scenario you are drawing is not a proper comparison. There is no reason why a native toolkit couldn't support rendering the program before it's fully loaded, so I see no reason a native program would need more data transfer upfront than a JavaScript one. Though I think too that being prompted to download the program, then install it and find the way to run it can be cumbersome, but the solution to this is to not do it this way. Why not integrate with the native way to obtain applications and make it transparent and convenient for the user?
After all, I think there might be fundamentally different goals when developing a software, and that explains the difference. If one has accepted advertisement-based financing of projects, then them and I would probably disagree in many ways. I think users devices must only and exclusively work for the user.
The scenario you are drawing is not a proper comparison. There is no reason why a native toolkit couldn't support rendering the program before it's fully loaded, so I see no reason a native program would need more data transfer upfront than a JavaScript one. Though I think too that being prompted to download the program, then install it and find the way to run it can be cumbersome, but the solution to this is to not do it this way. Why not integrate with the native way to obtain applications and make it transparent and convenient for the user?
After all, I think there might be fundamentally different goals when developing a software, and that explains the difference. If one has accepted advertisement-based financing of projects, then them and I would probably disagree in many ways. I think users devices must only and exclusively work for the user.