tldr: The web gets you 90% of the way there, at 10x the speed.
You don't have to download an application, assets, frameworks, or plugins. Everything is plug and play. You load a site in < 1s and it has everything you could possible want in an application.
Sure, websites may not be the end-all performance platform, and there are apps that strictly need to build on the desktop. But the small percentage of these applications is getting even smaller with web assembly and the (relatively recent) ability to run performance critical applications in the browser.
This is not a "hot-take" by any means. The web revolutionized tech well before my time, but it's still a marvel of engineering and a great accomplishment of humanity. As someone who grew up doing math homework on IXL, watching YouTube in my free-time, using Skype to call cousins on the other side of the globe, and enjoying shows on Netflix, it's easy to forget the wiring that power it all.