Long term, getting locked into proprietary software development tools is a bad idea. And these models are extremely proprietary. The ability of the US Government to cancel them at any time is one real recent example of one category of problem.

Back in the 1990s the good C++ compilers were proprietary, eventually GCC and LLVM caught up, and now dominate. The pattern repeats in software development, and there's no reason to believe it won't continue.

Yes, right now it makes sense to use Opus 4.8, but it is good that a significant number of people are using other options, and making sure they work and are ready for when you need them.

Plus it is extremely fun and connecting and hackerish to do local coding with a local model. Try it.