Perhaps that is just the tax they ought to pay for wanting to squeeze out more performance? :)
The alternative of not paying that tax by using WASM means "I want native performance but I don't want to pay the price of having to do native development."
So what developers are doing here is creating an externality - external cost which other people have to pay:
Browsers for the average internet user who just wants to read some news get worse in terms of security because some people want to distribute their software more conveniently at zero cost.
The cost is paid by the users who all now have WASM in their browser, even if they don't need it.
The web is the best distribution platform we currently have and increasing performance via WebAssembly means a wider variety of programs are now viable on the web.
Distributing native software is a PITA nowadays. You're either at the mercy of a random App Store review process, or you can't run the software you just downloaded outside an app store because the operating system doesn't allow it.
Yes they can, if they have the time and skills to port it to the many plattforms desired. But maybe you do see the point, that it is a bit easier to develope and test for only one plattform, as opposed to ... many?
(have you ever released something cross plattform?)
Point being, the web is a plattform now (since quite a while) and not anymore a static site displayer. Provide a technologically better alternative and people will use that.
