Even if parent was a bit stuck in a rant (which I'm guilty of) I think a few forces were at play during the 90s desktop apps. Limitations made apps more focused

Even if parent was a bit stuck in a rant (which I'm guilty of) I think a few forces were at play during the 90s desktop apps. Limitations made apps more focused on bringing rapid enough functionality in a stable manner. Web does offer too much rope to hang your users with. My bet it that, if computing doesn't evaporate in the next decade, there will be a middle-ground solution.