4 ms·

> The driving force was software management and focus on velocity of change That might have been the motivation for some at the beginning, but the reason cloud

by franga2000 2y ago

> The driving force was software management and focus on velocity of change That might have been the motivation for some at the beginning, but the reason cloud-only is now dominant is the SaaS + lock-in model that guarantees recurring revenue for the software company.

carlmr 2y ago
Also impossible to pirate.
- homarp 2y ago
  but so much better to 'pirate': from Azure - https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-cybersecurity-hack-raimondo-breach-b0901a93cca2ffaf05edacbfb9ecf3da https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-cybersecurity-hack-raim... to Snowflake - https://archive.ph/WLmYA https://archive.ph/WLmYA
hobs 2y ago
Specifically because investors cared more about MRR and ARR than any specific numbers - this conversion is really what turned everything into a SaaS company.
cjblomqvist 2y ago
Let's not forget the hassle when you don't have one source of truth. Life before Dropbox and the like wasn't super fun. I think this is an underestimated factor at play. It's super nice to not have deal with that issue, and be able to switch between computers seamless without worrying about whether your data is accurate/up to date. Lock in and recurring revenue is not something new for SaaS. Most ERP systems and similar business systems was sold like this way before. But with the added hassle that you had to manage a server locally yourself. Sometimes I think people just go straight to "corporations must be evil" because of ignorance/it feels good to blame the "Big guy" one can't relate to.
Spivak 2y ago
I wouldn't call it because of lock-in and more because we dropped the fiction that software is a thing that has a one-time cost and having people manage license keys is more expensive than its worth from support tickets alone. It's always been ARR it's just that the only software that was able to sell was huge amounts of units of $Software 2023/2024/2025 to smooth over the churn. People get mad at you, the software vendor, if you don't provide indefinite support to bits-in-a-box they paid $60 for 5 years ago (or 10 years ago if it's government) or make them buy a support contract but if you just charge it as in all-in-one subscription for the same price they're suddenly happy to pay it.

carlmr 2y ago

Also impossible to pirate.

homarp 2y ago
but so much better to 'pirate': from Azure - https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-cybersecurity-hack-raimondo-breach-b0901a93cca2ffaf05edacbfb9ecf3da https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-cybersecurity-hack-raim... to Snowflake - https://archive.ph/WLmYA https://archive.ph/WLmYA

hobs 2y ago

Specifically because investors cared more about MRR and ARR than any specific numbers - this conversion is really what turned everything into a SaaS company.

cjblomqvist 2y ago

Let's not forget the hassle when you don't have one source of truth. Life before Dropbox and the like wasn't super fun. I think this is an underestimated factor at play. It's super nice to not have deal with that issue, and be able to switch between computers seamless without worrying about whether your data is accurate/up to date. Lock in and recurring revenue is not something new for SaaS. Most ERP systems and similar business systems was sold like this way before. But with the added hassle that you had to manage a server locally yourself. Sometimes I think people just go straight to "corporations must be evil" because of ignorance/it feels good to blame the "Big guy" one can't relate to.

Spivak 2y ago

I wouldn't call it because of lock-in and more because we dropped the fiction that software is a thing that has a one-time cost and having people manage license keys is more expensive than its worth from support tickets alone. It's always been ARR it's just that the only software that was able to sell was huge amounts of units of $Software 2023/2024/2025 to smooth over the churn. People get mad at you, the software vendor, if you don't provide indefinite support to bits-in-a-box they paid $60 for 5 years ago (or 10 years ago if it's government) or make them buy a support contract but if you just charge it as in all-in-one subscription for the same price they're suddenly happy to pay it.