Modern browsers are basically an OS of their own at this point. And, in fairness, for many users their actual OS is effectively just a means by which they access a browser. This is not even mentioning something like Chrome OS.
I’m not saying it’s a good idea or that it should be this way, but it is where we are.
Useless? If we can get everyone to use this thing, we can finally invent the internet from Johnny Mnemonic!