On the contrary, it makes perfect sense. Labs work with all kinds of data, including samples and information obtained from human trials where privacy is mandated by law. Sync that to the cloud, and you open a huge can of legal-compliance worms.
By keeping local data in a local DB, this is avoided. I see on the website that sync is coming soon. If the developer is smart, they'll allow selective sync so that labs can choose what to upload and what to keep local, or will offer some sort of non-cloud p2p sync solution.
We do plan to allow syncing to a local network drive, if that can work. The idea is that it will be file-based, and can leverage Dropbox, Google Drive or... a local networked drive. Still working on it, though! See PARStore on github for some of the basic ideas, as this is what we use for document storage.
Sorry to bring up the whole native vs web app debate, but this kind of app is actually a good fit for a native app: access to files, very specific workflows requiring fine-tuned user interface and user experience. Not impossible to do in a web app, but much harder to do right, particularly when your main competitor is a paper notebook that has so much flexibility and is so easy to use.
By keeping local data in a local DB, this is avoided. I see on the website that sync is coming soon. If the developer is smart, they'll allow selective sync so that labs can choose what to upload and what to keep local, or will offer some sort of non-cloud p2p sync solution.