I think the distinction is that the UI needs to run locally so that shortcut-rich powerful apps don't have to fight for the keybinding space with the browser.
I'd say that the migration to the client-server approach for professional software is already underway, with VS Code of course being the canonical example, but my (limited) understanding is that Blackmagic's Da Vince Resolve (which is currently eating Premiere and Media Composer's lunch) also uses a similar model where data can be stored remotely but the UI runs locally.
I think the distinction is that the UI needs to run locally so that shortcut-rich powerful apps don't have to fight for the keybinding space with the browser.
I'd say that the migration to the client-server approach for professional software is already underway, with VS Code of course being the canonical example, but my (limited) understanding is that Blackmagic's Da Vince Resolve (which is currently eating Premiere and Media Composer's lunch) also uses a similar model where data can be stored remotely but the UI runs locally.