Backed up. I agree.
It is good as a back up. Not as a primary workspace. What happens if your internet goes down?
If you're using Chrome OS and are unable to continue working when network connectivity is lost, there are really only two considerable faults: first, the user, for not using the platform's tools in this regard; second, the developer of the app in question, for more or less the same reason (if said app does not offer such functions).
Is this a question of platform design, current capability, or third-party app dependency? Those can be very different questions.
And you will have to do that continually.
And if you are continually making a backup of everything, what is the point of using the internet as your primary workspace? I can make backups to the internet just as easily on my Win8 PC, and without having to be dependent on the internet.
No, third-party apps do this for you because the platform works around two principles at its core: online connectivity, and offline sync to "bridge" those times when you don't have said connectivity.
It seems like you're putting the traditional Windows paradigm of "local first, cloud for backup and sync" against that of Chrome OS, more or less "cloud first, local for backup and sync," and then expressing disappointment with the network-centric aspect of that approach. I'll go back to what Spock said:
If you're saying you prefer to use a specific program that's only available on Microsoft, cool... but that's you and it doesn't mean that others can't get the same task accomplished on a Mac or on Linux or anything else. There is nothing wrong with having a preferred way of doing things, but that doesn't equate to a "better" way in any objective sense.
Plus, we're seeing new features for Chrome OS as well as a rise in web apps that should almost certainly continue. This points to an improving platform, much like Win8 to 8.1, no?
And as for compromises in functionality, it isn't as black and white as some make it seem. Chrome Remote Desktop allows anyone with a Windows machine at home to run more intensive or specialized applications by way of the Chromebook, given that there's a network connection of course.

There's also Linux to consider, for those looking for a more standard local environment (albeit with relatively little storage).
This is all given a platform that was built on a different principle and largely for a different price point, though obviously both platforms overlap significantly in that regard now.
Also, why does Chrome OS need to do anything specific that Windows can't, aside from working differently?