I think the OP is bemoaning a paradigm shift - cloud computing, with all the implications - without fully understanding it. The best modern applications are bu

I think the OP is bemoaning a paradigm shift - cloud computing, with all the implications - without fully understanding it. The best modern applications are built of APIs, and they are composable. It's practically my personal working definition of "best" (certainly popularity isn't the key). Perhaps the author had a bad experience with a few popular services.