That oscillation probably wouldn't happen if it were possible to be more humble about the scope of the solution and connection to commercial incentives. It's gotten to the point where a rite of passage for becoming a senior developer is waking up to the commercialization and misdirection.
You can see the cracks in Next.js. Vercel, Netlify et. al, are interested in capitalizing on the murkiness (the middle, as you put it) in this space. They promise static performance but then push you into server(less) compute so they can bill for it. This has a real toll on the average developer. In order for a feature to be a progressive enhancement, it must be optional. This is orthogonal to what is required for a PaaS to build a moat.
All many people need is a pure, incrementally deployed SSG with a robust CMS. That could exist as a separate commodity, and at some points in the history of this JAMStack/Headless/Decoupled saga it has come close (excluding very expensive solutions). It's most likely that we need web standards for this, even if it means ultimately being driven by commercial interests.
You can see the cracks in Next.js. Vercel, Netlify et. al, are interested in capitalizing on the murkiness (the middle, as you put it) in this space. They promise static performance but then push you into server(less) compute so they can bill for it. This has a real toll on the average developer. In order for a feature to be a progressive enhancement, it must be optional. This is orthogonal to what is required for a PaaS to build a moat.
All many people need is a pure, incrementally deployed SSG with a robust CMS. That could exist as a separate commodity, and at some points in the history of this JAMStack/Headless/Decoupled saga it has come close (excluding very expensive solutions). It's most likely that we need web standards for this, even if it means ultimately being driven by commercial interests.