Local-First Software Is Easier to Scale

The reason it's easier to scale local software is that it does not rely on cloud resources. As a result it's cheaper for a startup to distribute local first software since they don't need the infrastructure of a traditional cloud app. The problem is there is no business model for local first software like there is for subscriptions with SaaS. Traditional desktop apps were sold as single purchase items on CDs. That just doesn't work for local first software, since you probably just navigate to a website to get the software.

I remember Skype was local-first. I believe it was the only one commercially successful P2P project.

But over time and multiple hard-to-recover incidents they switched to cloud.