The premise is bullshit... there were LOTS of competing options when React first came out... it wasn't really until Redux hit that a lot of people started seriously using it. A lot of the flux implementations were painful, configuring Webpack was a pain, etc, etc.

It may be the default today, but it largely earned that position by being one of the better options out there. Today there's alternatives and even Angular still has a decent following, not that I'll touch it if I can avoid it.

edit: Just adding to the pain at the time... iirc Webpack + Babel + Sass + CSS + ReactTransforms each with wierd bespoke configuration options... Babel itself was a massive pain for even trying to limit to modern-ish targets or multi-target.

React itself was a bit awkward as well, a lot of the concepts themselves were difficult, and IMO, it didn't get much easier until functional components, even if that really complicated the library itself.

I still have mixed to poor feelings on Server Components as I think it's largely a waste for the types of things people typically build. HTMLX (speaking of innovation) is likely a better option in that space.

That said, I do like MUI (formerly Material-UI, a Material Design Implementation), I think the component architecture is really thoughtful and works well, biggest issue is that devs don't take the couple hours to read the docs and even have awareness of what's in that box.

I also like Redux and even hand-written reducers and extensions quite a bit.

> The premise is bullshit... there were LOTS of competing options when React first came out...

Good thing that wasn't the premise, then.

The article is specifically looking at reasons for React's success other than its technical merits. It does not deny that it has merits, nor does it deny that its success is partly due to them. It only says that its current success is no longer wholly due to them, and backs the point up with examples of alternatives that are claimed to be technically superior and that are not achieving success commensurate with that superiority.

You can disagree on the superiority claims, you can disagree that innovation in this area is a good thing (many don't!), but I think the main claim is very believable: that in the present day, React's success is heavily helped by its default status.