PDFs still remain a primary form of interchange for academic documentation. People who really want to crunch the data will want raw data files or some sort of common interchange format.
> but they're services with default UIs you're forced to use
I gave a bunch of examples where you're not forced to use them. Most of the popular web services are also available through apps on mobile.
> REST APIs are restricted both in terms of features and what ToS allows you
For public REST APIs, sure. For private use, it's still things like REST and whatnot that power desktop and mobile apps, bringing data from those internet-based services to local clients, completely bypassing the web.
> Can I have an alternative implementation of the Dropbox client?
You can, but that isn't the point. The point is that the Dropbox client, the executable program or mobile app, is how people tend to use Dropbox. If not that, people also connect to Dropbox through alternative third party apps.
Completely possibly, and I wager mostly the case, to bypass the web.
> All being increasingly replaced by Google Docs
Citation needed.
> You can't edit those outside the browser
You can, using Google's apps. They're not fantastic, but that's not the app's fault, that's Google's. Meanwhile, iWork and Office 365 let one easily edit documents with the desktop and mobile apps — and Office remains king of the hill in enterprise, whatever people may wish to believe.
> Exception, not the rule
But still highly relevant.
> I'm not saying everything is in the browser now. But it sure as hell looks like in 10 years it'll all be
It really doesn't. There's no pattern from which to base this. Apps are far more popular, especially thanks to the rise of smartphones; the web remains a convoluted mess of inconsistent looks and feels that increasingly assume a high-quality broadband connection even though there are still vast portions of the developed world that still don't have adequate internet to completely shift away from local apps; and plenty of enterprises still run on older versions of software and standards.
When one examines the whole picture, the web is far from being as ubiquitous as you imagine it to be or shall be — it's merely the next biggest alternative that happens to be huge.
It is, though. 10 years ago I'd expect to get a PDF or an .XLS or a bundle of Matlab code. Maybe a static page. Today, if you can't interactively explore the data in the browser, it's considered subpar.
> The internet, as it is today, is still mainly services. Many things may be more and more accessible in the web by preference, yet remain freely available and consumable through other forms (REST APIs, direct database access, etc) and delivered through apps and integrations within operating systems
Disagree. The Internet may be mostly services, but they're services with default UIs you're forced to use, and are not freely consumable through other forms. REST APIs are restricted both in terms of features and what ToS allows you, and more often than not you couldn't build an alternative UI with feature parity to the original one.
> Dropbox: files sync with the various apps and utilities
Sorta, kinda. Can I have an alternative implementation of the Dropbox client? The problem isn't bad here though - Dropbox does one thing and does it well, i.e. syncing files with real OS-es and their filesystems. You can work with that to the extent your OS lets you.
> Pages, Keynote, Numbers ... Office 365
All being increasingly replaced by Google Docs, because it's free and you already have an account. You can't edit those outside the browser.
> Github
Exception, not the rule, and it's an artifact of the fact that developers still mostly work on desktop OSes with real filesystems. I'm worried about the future in which we'll all be using some future evolution of VS Code in the browser, communicating with future Github in the background over some APIs you can't hook into.
I'm not saying everything is in the browser now. But it sure as hell looks like in 10 years it'll all be.