There are still a lot of fields where performance matters. This is especially true with apps that need low latency, like most games. Something like Stadia may be fine for a casual gamer but it still feels laggy to many, especially those used to gaming at 144Hz+ with almost zero input lag and gsync.
VR is another area where native desktop is still superior.
Then there is anything that is dealing with a lot of local data and device drivers. Video editing for example.
Development tools that work in a browser are getting better but native (or even just Java-based like IntelliJ stuff) still seems superior for now.
Stuff that doesn't use TCP, like network analysis tools, either need to be done as a desktop app or need to run a local server to point the webapp used to control them to.
I guess what I'm getting at is that if you need low-level access to the local device or if you care a lot about things like rendering performance then native is still the way to go.
Yes, but I think that's the point isn't it? Of course the game runs on a Linux server because it couldn't possibly run in a web page due to performance reasons. Hence the complaint about lag.
You either get lag from the network roundtrip or lag from the crap performance in a browser (or you choose to degrade the experience, e.g., by reducing graphics fidelity), but one way or another you're experiencing lag (or a compromised experience).
Ergo the same game implemented as a native app running locally is going to be better[1].
[1] At least technically. It could of course still be a rubbish game.
Can you elaborate on the security considerations of this? It seems like you could just as easily say it's more secure because it reduces the attack surface to a well-tested program with mature sandboxing.
It goes both ways, the sandboxing means that the app has less access to the OS, but the flip side is that the open web has more access to the app (CSRF, XSS, evil extensions, etc.)
Exactly. The browser becomes (basically) an OS running within the host OS, so s/he's invented a kind of half-cocked virtualisation. There's a joke in there somewhere about turtles all the way down.
VR is another area where native desktop is still superior.
Then there is anything that is dealing with a lot of local data and device drivers. Video editing for example.
Development tools that work in a browser are getting better but native (or even just Java-based like IntelliJ stuff) still seems superior for now.
Stuff that doesn't use TCP, like network analysis tools, either need to be done as a desktop app or need to run a local server to point the webapp used to control them to.
I guess what I'm getting at is that if you need low-level access to the local device or if you care a lot about things like rendering performance then native is still the way to go.