I think there are several factors why server-side software has taken over: 1. It's easier to charge for, holding the software hostage in a way. Also gives a

I think there are several factors why server-side software has taken over: 1. It's easier to charge for, holding the software hostage in a way. Also gives a nice excuse "Look! Need to pay for server costs!". 2. Greater choice in programming language and libraries. If you want to do ML of any kind for example, that's most convenient using Python + libraries. Moving inference client side is still a hassle. 3. No out of sync client versions 4. Faster release cycle and iteration speed 5. If you have a need to store lots heavy user data like images, videos etc, you need to charge anyway, so might as well get the benefits of 2, 3 and 4. 6. If you need interaction between users, which many apps need today, you probably need centralized severs anyway. So it's pretty clear to me why it's happening, but that doesn't make it right. Personally, I'm going for a client-side-as-much-as-possible approach for my own project. This should allow me to scale a mostly free product to as many users possible without incurring much marginal cost. I'm hoping that I can then sustain the project on smaller revenue streams, since I'm not really interested in more than replacing a regular salary.