> but I'm unsure of its message

My takeaway:

Modern software stacks are usually cloud-dependent, and much bigger and more complex than they need to be, especially for offline, low-bandwidth, or low computing power use cases.

Small, simple, useful software can be written for these use cases and has ownership and longevity benefits.

Not a groundbreaking message, but a true one. And brought home by their interesting cirumstances.