I suspect that we here on HN may suffer from selection bias, in that many of us do work that is most amenable to moving to remote.
There is also an issue of transition, where there plausibly is quite an efficiency lag (months, at least) before people become get really set up, even assuming they are able to be as (or more) efficient.
When it comes to actually building a product there is definitely face to face benefits.
However, I'd point out that many software companies have far more sales people than engineers. There has been this expectation that salespeople should fly out, and have meetings, meals, and expensive drinks with the companies they sell to. Now magically that's all vanished, but sales are still happening. The cost of some sales efforts has presumably plummeted.
I strongly agree. This extends to reddit as well. Whenever it comes up, there is the overwhelming consensus of "I love WFH/dumb middle-managers are wasting everyone's time to feel useful". And while I agree there is definitely a bias towards demanding in-office working which is probably excessive, and that many people can be very successful working remotely, I feel like much of this attitude is romanticization.
Personally, I struggle to focus at home, and I have a pretty ideal WFH situation. I am fortunate enough/foolish enough to pay for a trivial commute, but I'm simply more productive in-office. And I don't think it is just me, many many problems can be solved in-office quickly without having to set up online calls (or letting an email thread drag on for weeks).
And the larger attitude among my office was that working from home is a burden. We're all software devs, we all have no strict barriers to WFH, but most people prefer going into the office most of the time.
There is also an issue of transition, where there plausibly is quite an efficiency lag (months, at least) before people become get really set up, even assuming they are able to be as (or more) efficient.