Don’t assume the JS engine running the Start menu is something like V8 or a headless Chromium instance. It’s almost certainly Hermes, ChakraCore, or a custom minimal JS engine built specifically for low-memory, low-I/O system components. We’re talking tight native bindings, RAM-conscious execution, and components that are likely already preloaded or idle-resident.
If anything, you're splitting hairs. This isn't "web bloat" like you see in Electron apps. It's more like embedding a small, scriptable runtime into a native shell for flexibility, not spinning up a browser every time you press the Windows key.