There are two closely coupled benefits: ease of installation (one machine to
do so) and ease of upgrade (again, single machine).<p>That said, I much prefer desktop applications to web-based ones, especially
when it&#x27;s not me who hosts them. They may disappear overnight, they may break
overnight, I don&#x27;t control backups for them, I need constant internet access
to use them (sometimes I work off-line, so this is a big no-no).<p>And web applications on modern hardware (which I don&#x27;t own, because why should
I? my Dell D830 works satisfactory) are <i>almost as fast</i> as desktop
applications on my older hardware. Meaning, they&#x27;re slow.