Can I build Windows desktop applications with web technologies?

I recently got an interesting question on my training class: since you can use web technologies (HTML5, CSS and JavaScript) to build cross-platform mobile applications, can you use the same technologies to build desktop (Windows) applications?

The answer is a definite yes. In my quest of finding a good selection of tools for each need and then selecting the best, I wanted to do some research. Turns out there's a nice product/platform called Electron, which has previously been called Atom Shell.

For more information, check this page.