They still are required, for at least three reasons - UX, cost, and security. 1. For a lot of workloads, it's more convenient to run in on a desktop. Sure, wit

They still are required, for at least three reasons - UX, cost, and security. 1. For a lot of workloads, it's more convenient to run in on a desktop. Sure, with the right tooling, you can bridge your cloud and desktop pretty seamlessly, but a lot of people can't do that or it's not possible with their tooling. Sure, it doesn't scale, but it often doesn't need to. 2. A Threadripper CPU may cost $1000, but but look at what that buys you in the cloud. The machine pays for itself within a year if used extensively. 3. Sometimes it's not easy to just upload code and data (!) to the cloud. Sure, there's all sorts of security layers and certifications and yes, clouds are very often more secure than desktops, but still, some people can't afford to let their data leave their machines. Two of these were a thing at my former employer (but we still used the cloud for other use cases). So no, I wouldn't say these workstations are obsolete.