Local-first software (2019)
&gt; ... cloud apps depend on the service continuing to be available: if the service is unavailable, you cannot use the software, and you can no longer access your data created with that software. This means you are betting that the creators of the software will continue supporting it for a long time — at least as long as you care about the data. Although there does not seem to be a great danger of Google shutting down Google Docs anytime soon, popular products (e.g. Google Reader) do sometimes get shutdown or lose data, so we know to be careful.<p>Plus, the value of the cloud app is not just your data, but the network effects. Like, if you&#x27;ve emailed links to a GDocs document, and 5 years later you decide to move to another service, those GDocs links will 404, regardless of whether you&#x27;ve transferred all of your data to the new service.<p>With local-first apps, the URL starts with <i>you</i>, not some <i>some-sass-provider.com</i>.