I get the impression that we're actually in agreement, just with different wording. For me the term 'software' is describing exactly that, a static piece of cod

I get the impression that we're actually in agreement, just with different wording. For me the term 'software' is describing exactly that, a static piece of code. The usage part is encoded in data that goes back to the developers - but if all they do with it is provide another static piece of code (e.g. an upgrade), we're at the same starting point again. Now, if you merge together development and operations, such that usage data is always there to grab, analyse and push down a development pipeline - that's where the services model is shining, but not thanks to a piece of code, but due to tons of business processes running that others can't easily replicate.