Personally, my notes are not going on anyone else's servers.
Part of the problem with being tired of subscriptions is being tired of applications that would be perfect to run locally being instead developed as a web app, for the benefit of requiring a server and justifying the subscription.
I hate using a phone and its small screen. I don't need my data to sync with other devices. So there's nobody "modern" making software I'd like to use.
But the topic of discussion here is whether people are getting tired of subscriptions, and why that is. I don't like subscriptions, so that's the perspective I'm contributing to it. You can't limit the discussion to only people who want to use online services and then say you're having an honest discussion about subscriptions.
Which is a very serious problem. Apps like that shouldn't be services. The only reason to make them that way is so the companies can continue to soak you over time.
Break out the services separately. If the user wants cloud storage, sell that service as an option. But if the user doesn't, they shouldn't have to pay for it.
> it would mean the companies go bankrupt, as little new revenue comes in.
This is just not true, as the history of software sales reveals. Sell upgrades. Sell more than one product.
Password manager is a good example, but I would love to have something as affordable as Bitwarden. One good example of a bad password manager that went in the wrong direction if you ask me is 1Password. Their licensing was such a mess and as someone who bought into their "permanent license" a long time ago I've been screwed real hard because they wouldn't let me use it on Linux at all. The prices became "subscription based" and then steadily went up ever since then.
It's very much possible that a large company subsidizes these costs or runs ads, thereby making it "free". But the costs are still there.
You do have a point about office and image editing programs. A local desktop app in itself has no recurring costs for the company that built it, at least not directly. Still, after market and customer saturation it would mean the companies go bankrupt, as little new revenue comes in.