This is not about being a Vulkan fan.
Not even about portability.
The real issue is the one no one talk about.
Webgpu is the intersection of features from Vulkan, directX 12 and metal.
Which means that webGPU is a subset of Vulkan, metal and DX, by design it is less powerful than metal, less powerful than DX and less powerful than metal.
By being an intersection, by design they've created a sub-par, non evolutive api.
As a consequence, performance reachable on desktop, and expressivity of possible software and graphical features will be inferior on the web which is deeply sad
Nobody understanding and stating that is another sad thing.
WebGPU is for the Web. You're expected to be able to put up a webpage and have it run everywhere (as much as is possible). Vulkan is designed so you have to make paths for every differen type of hardware. That's a non-starter for the web
The intersection of hardware features is greater than the intersection of Vulkan, dx12 and metal features.
Moreover, hardware features should be queryable at runtime
That's why it's versioned..
Webgpu could start from Vulkan 1.1 or the latest Vulkan version could be bumped to Vulkan 1.2 for marking it's the one used for webgpu.
Turns out that the intersection is already a huge advance over WebGL, and that much of the stuff outside the intersection is of marginal value or even outright regrettable.
I have followed the WebGPU CG discussions about differences between the APIs and what features one has that the other doesn't. The initial goal of the API is to have a solid core, and not rely on extensions for important functionality. But it does have an extension facility so I'm sure some things will make it in as extensions over time.
The real issue is the one no one talk about. Webgpu is the intersection of features from Vulkan, directX 12 and metal. Which means that webGPU is a subset of Vulkan, metal and DX, by design it is less powerful than metal, less powerful than DX and less powerful than metal. By being an intersection, by design they've created a sub-par, non evolutive api. As a consequence, performance reachable on desktop, and expressivity of possible software and graphical features will be inferior on the web which is deeply sad
Nobody understanding and stating that is another sad thing.