Posted on 03/22/2006 1:02:28 PM PST by 2Jim_Brown
CHICAGO, March 22 (UPI) -- Major software players like Microsoft Corp., Oracle and SAP have started responding soberly to a trend that has been slowly escalating for years: selling "on demand" software. Such software is sold over the Internet, exactly when the company actually needs to use it, experts tell United Press International's The Web column.
Soon, shrink-wrapped software, purchased from the store, or a reseller, may disappear, or at least gather lint, like dot matrix printers and other relics of the early days of the information age. By Gene Koprowski
(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...
A malign practice that has nothing to do with customer needs and everything to do with extracting maximum $$$ from those customers.
Microsoft Designs the iPod Package...
This was actually produced inhouse by Microsoft...
Salesforce.com has been doing this for years. Great stuff, actually. We use it.
Bull crap! The "trend" is all in their greedy little minds and they are doing their best to implant it in the minds of the public.
On the contrary, I no longer buy software in stores. I look for downloads with free trials, test the ones I think will work for me, and pay for the license AFTER I am satisfied the product will work for me. I cannot think of a situation where I would not prefer to download the software and burn it to disk for future (inevitable) reinstallations.
Much like the new music industry, where you only purchase the songs you want, instead of the whole album, the software industry is responding to the demands of the customer base. (Yes, I know, I am part of the "I want it now" crowd") More to the point, this is one of the oldest sales methods in the book-formerly known as the puppy-dog close.
I sell software and my current business has never burned a CD. It's all downloads. The manual is online also.
Downloading a product or trial is definitely not the same as SaaS.
The Wikipedia article has a decent explanation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_as_a_Service
This article starts out with downloading a product, and goes to SaaS later. In my opinion, the article is covering both. I was specifically addressing the first 2/3rds of the article. But thanks reading more into my post than I put into it.
You replied to a post about the "trend" being greedy. On-demand download is not a trend nor is it greedy. It's actually the best possible option for everyone involved (who has a decent internet connection). But SaaS providers are trying to sell it to customers as the next big thing and it is certainly a greedy industry because a LOT of them are selling time on software their clients ought to be buying considering their usage and needs. They pretty much never recommend buying a solution when they can rent it to you.
Replying "on the contrary" to a post about the latter half of the article if you are commenting on the former half is pretty confusing.
It would be best if they could get it right, sell the final version and then move on to the next best thang, without hooking an IV onto my bank account, IMHO.
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