Yes, in cases of "Service as a Software Substitute", a program running on the
local computer could provide all the same functions using a "proper" language
(as jxself says). To clarify, my understanding is that the 'unhosted web
apps' proposal covers those situations where the internet is required, and
where a server is normally used, examples like:
* webmail (eg RoundCube)
* automated off-site backs and multi-device file sync (eg NextCloud)
* online event calendars for public display and data-sharing via WebDAV/ iCAL
(eg Cozy)
* groupware and chat platforms (eg Loomio, MatterMost, CoActivate)
Now in an ideal world, everyone would grow all their own fruit and vegetables
in their backyard and run their own servers for their home/ office, running
free code software, to provide for these needs. Needless to say, this is not
currently the world we live in, and significant upskilling would be needed to
make it possible. Most of the older generation will simply never have these
skills, and must depend either on online spyware like Google et al, or on
trusted geeks running servers for them.
The proposal for unhosted web apps (yes, free code is part of the proposal)
is to reduce the degree to which the geek running the server must be trusted,
as well as to reduce centralization and single-points-of-failure in these
services (eg allowing separation of software/ processing and storage).
The advantage of using the browser is that the same software will work
regardless of the underlying platform, presuming the browser and the software
properly implement the standards for HTML, CSS etc.
