A note: I'm 10 years removed from the enterprise. It seems to me, organizations who respond to change are the ones best staffed, skilled and tooled to weather c

A note: I'm 10 years removed from the enterprise. It seems to me, organizations who respond to change are the ones best staffed, skilled and tooled to weather change. The FF fighters are in a tough place. It seems the momentum shifted and is on the side of rapid and responsible products closer to what is a SaaS offering, but desktop software is beginning to deliver updates near SaaS pace. Yet a major version number isn't reflective of features/functionality these days. It's a schedule. Perhaps that's the most unnerving aspect -- shifting rev numbers. It's not difficult, but takes a leap of faith and sales to your manager. I'm guessing the organizations will have to make a major IT expenditure to meet the One True Path -- not buying into a vendor's plan, but making your own. A vendor should get you closer to your vision, but not dictate it. Ten years ago, enterprises got burned on web apps. You bought into a vision. Now, you can pick the best of the best and relatively cheaply, integrate them. I remember a multi-year, multi-million dollar project to get Siebel and JD Edwards to play well. I dearly hope it's not the case. There are young billion dollar companies running on commodity hardware and software with profit margin inbetween.