4 ms·

SaaS is really one of the only ways to make money and build a company with software these days. Decades of piracy have pushed most companies to create a subscr

SaaS is really one of the only ways to make money and build a company with software these days. Decades of piracy have pushed most companies to create a subscription service where the software can't just be copied.

tmpz22 7y ago
I don't know, did piracy kill the music industry's ownership model or was SaaS just more popular/lucrative/financially gamable? My take is that SaaS is just a more predictable business model with fewer operating complexities and easier sales funnels.
- jimbokun 7y ago
  > did piracy kill the music industry's ownership model yes
  - buttersbrian 7y ago
    of the artists, certainly.
- planetzero 7y ago
  "SaaS just more popular/lucrative/financially gamable" Piracy definitely killed the ownership model. After Napster and prolific piracy of music for 10+ years, the value of music plummeted to almost nothing. Piracy is closer to counterfeiting than stealing, because the actual value of the pirated good approaches $0 as more and more people have the idea that they can get it for free. This won't happen to any automotive company if you steal a car. This is why I always thought those ads about piracy/stealing were silly. SaaS for the music industry might have happened without piracy, but piracy was definitely the catalyst for the services we see today.
jolmg 7y ago
It's not just because of piracy. SaaS has other advantages like making customer support easier, drive continued development with little risk, have easy cross-platform support, easier and more accurate usability testing, etc.
- planetzero 7y ago
  I agree with all of these. but, the main driver is piracy. Look at products like 1Password. Everybody I knew was buying one license key and installing it on 5+ computers. Now that it's a service, you can't really do that anymore. The company definitely has more control over their software. It's also one of the only ways to make money with open source, unless you want to make money on support, which is brutal for a small company with only a few employees.
Spooky23 7y ago
Nonsense. Enterprise customers almost always paid 20-35% maintenance on perpetual software. Places that I’m familiar with had SaaS spending went through the roof because of Microsoft, Oracle and Adobe. Actual spend hasn’t gone up and in many cases gone down as the usual software company overselling bullshit is easier to avoid. On the flip side, the treadmill and all or nothing approach to the rental model kills small vendors. At one place I know, we purged 60% of vendors. Companies who are obnoxious rent seekers are easy pickings too. You can pretty easily purge them, as you’re on an upgrade treadmill anyway!
- runforthehills 7y ago
  Oh I like that point of view, it really does force everyone to compete at a much faster pace. We've ended up with such a great selection of options as a result (And a lot of innovation we probably wouldn't have seen otherwise) because of the competition/expansion
  - Spooky23 7y ago
    It won’t last for long. Whole categories of software will just the sucked up by the giants. We’re in a path to early 1980s computing.

tmpz22 7y ago

I don't know, did piracy kill the music industry's ownership model or was SaaS just more popular/lucrative/financially gamable? My take is that SaaS is just a more predictable business model with fewer operating complexities and easier sales funnels.

jimbokun 7y ago
> did piracy kill the music industry's ownership model yes
- buttersbrian 7y ago
  of the artists, certainly.
planetzero 7y ago
"SaaS just more popular/lucrative/financially gamable" Piracy definitely killed the ownership model. After Napster and prolific piracy of music for 10+ years, the value of music plummeted to almost nothing. Piracy is closer to counterfeiting than stealing, because the actual value of the pirated good approaches $0 as more and more people have the idea that they can get it for free. This won't happen to any automotive company if you steal a car. This is why I always thought those ads about piracy/stealing were silly. SaaS for the music industry might have happened without piracy, but piracy was definitely the catalyst for the services we see today.

jolmg 7y ago

It's not just because of piracy. SaaS has other advantages like making customer support easier, drive continued development with little risk, have easy cross-platform support, easier and more accurate usability testing, etc.

planetzero 7y ago
I agree with all of these. but, the main driver is piracy. Look at products like 1Password. Everybody I knew was buying one license key and installing it on 5+ computers. Now that it's a service, you can't really do that anymore. The company definitely has more control over their software. It's also one of the only ways to make money with open source, unless you want to make money on support, which is brutal for a small company with only a few employees.

Spooky23 7y ago

Nonsense. Enterprise customers almost always paid 20-35% maintenance on perpetual software. Places that I’m familiar with had SaaS spending went through the roof because of Microsoft, Oracle and Adobe. Actual spend hasn’t gone up and in many cases gone down as the usual software company overselling bullshit is easier to avoid. On the flip side, the treadmill and all or nothing approach to the rental model kills small vendors. At one place I know, we purged 60% of vendors. Companies who are obnoxious rent seekers are easy pickings too. You can pretty easily purge them, as you’re on an upgrade treadmill anyway!

runforthehills 7y ago
Oh I like that point of view, it really does force everyone to compete at a much faster pace. We've ended up with such a great selection of options as a result (And a lot of innovation we probably wouldn't have seen otherwise) because of the competition/expansion
- Spooky23 7y ago
  It won’t last for long. Whole categories of software will just the sucked up by the giants. We’re in a path to early 1980s computing.