Hi Thomas,
Tight desktop integration is an area where any web application will currently struggle. There are good reasons why web applications are not allowed to interact with other applications running on your system. As Jeff has said, a Java application may get around these restrictions but it is not going to be trivial to implement, and Java is seen as an outdated solution for web use now (it typically does not work on smart phones and tablets, for example).
Some DAM systems have a stronger focus on integration into a production workflow, and these are usually native applications. One I saw recently that very tightly integrates with the Adobe suite is Elvis DAM (
http://www.elvisdam.com). It is not cheap though at $6,000 per year for just 3 concurrent users. On the other hand though, it has no web front end at all so publicising and sharing assets is a weak point, however this is a strong point for ResourceSpace.
Native 'helper' applications could be one solution which I believe is what Tom is suggesting. Another option may be a hybrid solution where something like Elvis is used in production by a small number of users, but is linked via the Elvis and ResourceSpace APIs to a more widely used ResourceSpace system for searching / sharing / retrieval.
I hope that's helpful.
Dan