The fact that users don't usually control the servers with web apps is just a reflection of the fact that users don't usually control anything these days, and m

The fact that users don't usually control the servers with web apps is just a reflection of the fact that users don't usually control anything these days, and most user facing applications these days are implemented as web apps. The average user doesn't have control over their desktop apps either, those apps are dependent on Microsoft/Apple/Adobe servers and even if they aren't "helpfully" syncing everything to a cloud they're sending disturbing amounts of telemetry. As hombre_fatal points out, there's no intrinsic link between the freedom question and the technical question. Enough free software developers (understandably) just prefer a traditional desktop app/local storage design over an API/web client design that people get the impression that freedom respecting apps are always desktop apps. Partly because of that choice, free software is going to keep looking outdated and inconvenient to use while more people flock to SaaSS for the services' superior cross-platform and multi-device capabilities.