Yeah, but setting up a simple Debian machine with Tailscale and using vscode remote or intellij gateway is also possible; even easy.

You can even use the vscode-server thing made by gitpods that allows you to use vscode in a normal browser; but the environment feels weird because those localhost ports you're used to opening are not open of course.

Millennials and Zoomers are very accustomed to renting and subscribing everything. Your dev environment is just the next step.

an alternative is to just buy a second hand rack server and send it to a colocation hosting provider. they maintain a good internet connection and supply the power.

You can always run development environment in a local VM, although that would be rather slow (I assume that if somebody is going remote development way then they would buy cheaper notebook and use savings to pay for the cloud instance).

It's not for everyone, but you are paying for your development environment either way (upfront by buying powerful notebook, or as-you-go by renting cloud instance). Seems fine as long as it is conscious choice.

I do a lot of personal development and everything for my job on cloud VMs. I've been doing more development on a cloud VM than locally for around 4 years now. You can spin up whatever hardware you need more easily, backups are easier, connections to data are typically faster. Easier to get started again if you damage your laptop. There are lots of advantages.