"This is a great point. Cloud computing offers a tradeoff between processor power (the server farms at Google, Amazon and Microsoft offer processing power well beyond that of a personal desktop) and network bandwidth. Applications that perform heavy I/O, such as Brian M's example of video editing software, for now are better suited for running on a local desktop. However, as available Internet connection speed improves over time, video editing will become more and more appealing to do (and performant enough to be useful) online.As others have posted, however, it is a matter of preference. However, more and more people will be drawn to the cloud as technology advances (you'll still have a choice, though)." - Ethan Bauley