In a world without (D)COM, I find it's much, much harder to make common base libraries and force people to use them, especially if you can't also force limit the set of toolchains used in the environment.
The network is the base library - that is the shift you are seeing. You make a call out to a network address with a specific protocol.
Also, as an aside, I think WebAssembly has the potential to shift this back. In a world where libraries and programs are compiled to WebAssembly, it doesn't matter what their source language was, and as such, the client library based approach might swing back into vogue.
Also, as an aside, I think WebAssembly has the potential to shift this back. In a world where libraries and programs are compiled to WebAssembly, it doesn't matter what their source language was, and as such, the client library based approach might swing back into vogue.