Oh yes there is. For one, thinking "desktop" is very very different than thinking "web".
Dealing with "state" is much better/easier/clear in desktop than in web.
An app on desktop, if well made, will be insanely more responsive than a web app. That's one thing - the other thing is there are cases where speed/resources will dictate that the app should be desktop. A simple example is a video editor (such as, the one I'm developing, but that's besides the point). Sure, you can have a video editor as a JS app, but that will be incredibly trivial compared to a desktop app.
I'm not saying that you can't match any desktop feature on to web. I'm saying that some will take 10x+ time and resources (and thus, an insanely higher complexity) than desktop. And some features, they are simply not feasible to do on the web. Let me give you an example: time-remapping for a video editor (one thing that I'm gonna implement soon). This is such a complex issue, requiring advanced caching + lots of RAM + fast rendering, that implementing it in a browser is simply unfeasible TODAY.
As things become feasible on the web, lots of them begin by being 10x+ more complex than desktop (this gets lower in complexity in time), for one thing. And for another thing, that basically means more things that were unfeasible for desktop will now become feasible there (but still not feasible on web). And this cycle continues.
In conclusion - there will always be a place for native desktop apps IMHO.
Dealing with "state" is much better/easier/clear in desktop than in web.
An app on desktop, if well made, will be insanely more responsive than a web app. That's one thing - the other thing is there are cases where speed/resources will dictate that the app should be desktop. A simple example is a video editor (such as, the one I'm developing, but that's besides the point). Sure, you can have a video editor as a JS app, but that will be incredibly trivial compared to a desktop app.
I'm not saying that you can't match any desktop feature on to web. I'm saying that some will take 10x+ time and resources (and thus, an insanely higher complexity) than desktop. And some features, they are simply not feasible to do on the web. Let me give you an example: time-remapping for a video editor (one thing that I'm gonna implement soon). This is such a complex issue, requiring advanced caching + lots of RAM + fast rendering, that implementing it in a browser is simply unfeasible TODAY.
As things become feasible on the web, lots of them begin by being 10x+ more complex than desktop (this gets lower in complexity in time), for one thing. And for another thing, that basically means more things that were unfeasible for desktop will now become feasible there (but still not feasible on web). And this cycle continues.
In conclusion - there will always be a place for native desktop apps IMHO.