That's what TFA is about.

> 1. Users are offline; experiencing latency issues or are in unreliable network conditions.

> 2. Fetching the data over the network will be slower than fetching it from a local source.

> 3. The app users should be informed about the low network conditions but it shouldn’t be a hindrance to their objective.

> 4. Users’ network and battery status are taken into account, and thus only the data that has changed since the last synchronization should be synced.

> Fetching the data over the network will be slower than fetching it from a local source.

A big aspect of this is data collection. Microsoft office has tons of features that could easily be local buy that it wants to be "connected services" that are subject to their own TOS so they can steal your data. Based on the lag, it seems like all spell and grammar checks go through some server somewhere, almost certainly with the primary goal of scraping as much info as they can from what you're doing. Online first is all about data harvesting, much less so ease of operation and certainty not customer experience.

what is TFA? not a familiar acronym in this context (usually it means The Force Awakens)

"The Fine Article". Or you can use your imagination to replace 'Fine' with any other F-word.

I think the acronym used to represent the phrase "The F*ing Article", and then, for a softer touch, people changed F to represent 'Fine'.

This freaking (or a variation) article; https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=TFA

It stands for The "Fine" Article. If you want a less polite version, replace the F with another word

TFA from RTFA

> from RTFA

which itself is from RTFM (manual), which was the catch-cry of early 90s irc and usenet tech newsgroups.

A school teacher might explain it to be "The Frickin Article".

The Fucking Article, at least in the circles I run in.

> Why not just let me use the supercomputer I have in my possession and run the thing without the baggage and overhead?

Because the app would be too easy to steal and too hard to monetize.

At this point, from an economic perspective, apps either need to be completely open source or running in the cloud behind secured servers.

Even if I dismiss piracy as a problem (and I don't), the bigger issue is that if the app does something clever/technical and is somehow successful, someone will tear it apart, clone it, and put their own copy on the app stores.

Running in the cloud is how companies are dodging that race to the bottom (see: Chitubox as a prime example--good or bad example is up to you to decide).

this works until you lose or break your "supercomputer in your posession".

the first in "Offline First" does not mean only

Err, email copies, backups, USB sticks, save-to-sync, ... There are lots of shared/safe alternatives when saving my data/work. Not having to have to sweat net lag, though, is a big win. And devices are pretty damn reliable unless you drop the things.

And even then, I have this phone thingie that has lots of storage - why can't I sync to that directly without 3rd-party involvement? This would address you "what if it crashed" by giving a second copy (or more if there's multiple people sitting near me).

People expect apps to work across all their devices

you can always sync, that's good practice with "Offline First"