(Author here) you’re absolutely right, Durable Objects are a great product, especially for the “just need a sync layer” use case. The db layer mentioned in the article is built to run on either Durable Objects or (as a regular Linux process) on Plane. https://driftdb.com/

I do see Plane as being relevant to pure sync layers, for cases where you want to run on your own cloud/own metal, or can’t compile your code to run on V8, but it’s good to have options.