Yes, they are much better than your example, which is one of the worst things that could happen. :)

But paid software in the 90s and 2000s was fine, no network connectivity, didn't even check for updates. Heck, a lot of freeware was fine.

Then the market changed and spyware as a service became very profitable. The genius of this Spyware 2.0 was that it offered some benefits while not abusing the collected data in any obvious ways, like stealing your money. Browsers are helpless against this, in fact they are enabling the whole business model through their support of web apps and increasingly complex APIs.

Web apps are already spyware by default, as everything gets done on a computer I don't have access to.

Just plain pretty TTYs.

There is a world of difference between analytics and tracking and, say, CoolWebSearch. You don't see Web apps hijacking your home page, filling your bookmarks with casino ads, installing toolbars, or replacing competitors' banner ads.