>As for open-source, while free. In general, (and I know there are exceptions), it does not mean its cheaper, more secure, of more quality or future >proof.

I doubt you will get many open source people to agree with that statement. Even with the latest breach with equifax the open source guys had the fix months in advance. I think it is true that open source projects are in general more secure. This is specially true with the large projects. But I doubt that is your real issue with open source. Making the change to open source is not very easy. Windows only recently started using open source. So many of the tools I used don't really fit in with the open source world. But I note the MS is moving very quickly with open source. VS is now using electron. Most web stuff is now in the Angular, react world. In fact MS is even providing classes on the use of those products.

In my case I have been using Vue.js, Node.js, and Electron for desktop apps. I believe, I will soon move over to Vue.js and Node.js for the web soon - but I currently use Django (python). The old statements that web apps can't do what desktop apps can do is quickly going away. Getting to that USB port or any other devices on the computer is now possible. Having offline solutions are also possible. Is the web there - doubtful - but it's getting closer daily.

BTW IMO mobile apps for data entry are terrible even though I have been doing them for the last 5 five years - that includes tablets!
Johnf