> SPAs have made almost all desktop applications obsolete.

Meh, Office and Adobe products still have widespread use, as do various code editors and related tools, along with specialized applications like SPSS or Matlab. Also, things like Slack are desktop, even though they utilize web technologies. And there remain plenty of PC games which still get made. Some things you don't want to run in a browser.

Isn't it office already a "local webapp", under the hood? You can open any document in-browser through SharePoint server, have (almost?) full functionality, all documents are XML... There are lots of little signs that Microsoft is rewriting everything to be seamlessly used through a browser, and that when you open it locally you just don't notice that you are using an "office browser". Even Visual Studio has also web tech under the hood, I think.

You still download and install Office 365 as applications and run them independent of a web browser and can do so without an internet connection. They also have their own updater. Yes, you can run them on the web from the Office 365 portal, but that's the html version.

The installed version is still fundamentally a desktop platform. I'm pretty sure it's written C# or C++ and runs on dotnet.

An SPA is a web page run in the browser over http(s). Anything else is desktop, server, or mobile app, regardless of what tech it's made from.

> An SPA is a web page run in the browser over http(s).

I'd argue that if they are using web technologies (like vscode) they are still profiting from web innovations. Isn't electron just a way to distribute SPA on the desktop (plus some integrations).

> Sure, but the way I look at it is if the application runs on the desktop, server or mobile OS, then it's not a web app.

Yes perhaps your definition is clearer. But the point remains that "web technolgies" have expanded tremendously in scope. And that it does not suffice anymore to look at "View Source" to become a web developer.

Because today the field of web development includes things like electron and you want to bring your application to as many devices as possible, with as little development overhead as possible. And this is what users expect, it's just not possible with the 90-style web.

Sure, but the way I look at it is if the application runs on the desktop, server or mobile OS, then it's not a web app. A web app is an html page you access via the browser with a bunch of javascript that makes it interactive enough to stay within that single page (if it's strictly an SPA).

Also, the stuff that powers the web such as web servers and browsers would obviously not be SPAs.

> SPAs have made almost all desktop applications obsolete.

Adobe, office for desktop, text editors, video games, my command line, iTunes, yada yada yada. Native applications are a hugely important part of my computer usage and I personally prefer to keep it that way.

Sure they are still important, but isn't everything that CAN be made into a web application made into one? Just because there are so many advantages: The applications travel with you, no need for manual backups, more secure (I try to completly avoid clicking on exe files on Windows), no installation/maintenance required.

And don't young people use YouTube/Amazon Music/Google Play to listen to music these days?

I'm a developer so of course I still use a lot of desktop apps, but for the normal user, the only thing that rivals the convenience of web apps are Android/iPhone apps, but nobody enjoys writing those.. So perhaps they will get replaced by something based on web technologies too one day.

There are many disadvantages too: they're slower than native apps, they require an internet connection, someone else has all your work on their servers, your user experience is entirely at their mercy, you never really own anything, etc.

There's a whole world of software out there besides the web. I know that the context of this discussion was web, but I really think people forget that that's not all there is to software.

And here I am selling consulting services doing native apps most of the time, with very occasional web gigs.

I can't think of a single desktop application that has been made obsolete by a SPA.

IDEs -> vscode

thunderbird ->Gmail

Ms office > gdocs

Msn messenger -> Hangouts

Etc.

At least for most (non professional) users

Edit: and often you are better off using webapps because they are sandboxed.

Webapps sandbox is useless when they actually need someone's else computer to do any valuable work.

VS Code even includes native code (ripgrep written in Rust), so I'm not sure if it should count.

And in my experience Microsoft Office is still used more than Google Docs for non professional users, but YMMV.

Hangouts is also way behind natives apps like WhatsApp, iMessage, Telegram in market share.

> so I'm not sure if it should count.

vscode may or may not count as a SPA, that's beside the point. It is certainly based on and would not be possible without web technologies. And illustrates perfectly why today it is not possible anymore to become a web developer just by "viewing the source".