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I think the subtle point here is that users don't want bloated applications but 1) They will vocally advocate for additional features that meet their specific needs 2) They will buy upgrades (particularly of boxed software) based primarily on new/additional features

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The nice thing is that this problem of desktop applications hasn't actually translated directly to the web. On the web, doing one thing well is much more valued on than on the desktop.

I suspect that this is because more users understand and feel comfortable with the web than feel comfortable with the non-browser desktop.

I think the key aspect is that adoption of web software is easy, and most web software (e.g. gmail, google maps, flickr, twitter) is free, or at least has a reasonably useful no-cost usage tier. This may contribute to users feeling they are less locked in to a single application, more able to switch to a competitor if need be, and more able to use additional software to provide additional functionality (e.g. twitpic + twitter).

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