4 ms·

The SaaSification of something that should have been a product.

by 3np 2y ago

robertlagrant 2y ago
But that's nothing to do with rent seeking. Rent seeking is getting the government/a regulator to mandate the use of your service.
- snakeyjake 2y ago
  Just leave it be. "Rent seeking" is an "I hate everything" buzzphrase that people use without understanding, like "gaslighting" and "third spaces". It is useless to try and correct the error.
- zappchance 2y ago
  There are other forms of rent-seeking; I believe a term that more narrowly fits your definition is "regulatory capture".
  - robertlagrant 2y ago
    Making a SAAS out of a product is one of those definitions?
- rightbyte 2y ago
  Maybe the phrase I rather should have used would be "profiteering"? But according to Wikipedia, I think the "classic example" fits many SaaS vendors: The classic example of rent-seeking, according to Robert Shiller, is that of a property owner who installs a chain across a river that flows through their land and then hires a collector to charge passing boats a fee to lower the chain. There is nothing productive about the chain or the collector, nor do passing boats get anything in return. The owner has made no improvements to the river and is not adding value in any way, directly or indirectly, except for themselves. *All they are doing is finding a way to obtain money from something that used to be free*.
  - robertlagrant 2y ago
    But how does that fit SAAS vendors? If someone cut my fibre wire and added a box that stopped it working if I didn't pay them, I would say that that is rent seeking. A SAAS vendor doesn't seem to fit that pattern.
    - rightbyte 2y ago
      Perpetual use of software used to be free after purchase. Nowadays SaaS is more or less the norm.
- 3np 2y ago
  > Rent seeking is getting the government/a regulator to mandate the use of your service. That sounds like your personal narrower definition. Where did you get that from? The wider use is both historically and semantically accurate and I believe people familiar with the term will still recognize its intended meaning today. Needlessly making a physical product unusable without the continued subscription to an associated service, and designing the product in such a way that only the manufacturer can/may provide that service (aka vendor-lock-in) is pretty much rent-seeking, yeah. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking

The SaaSification of something that should have been a product.

by 3np 2y ago

The SaaSification of something that should have been a product.

But that's nothing to do with rent seeking. Rent seeking is getting the government/a regulator to mandate the use of your service.

snakeyjake 2y ago
Just leave it be. "Rent seeking" is an "I hate everything" buzzphrase that people use without understanding, like "gaslighting" and "third spaces". It is useless to try and correct the error.
zappchance 2y ago
There are other forms of rent-seeking; I believe a term that more narrowly fits your definition is "regulatory capture".
- robertlagrant 2y ago
  Making a SAAS out of a product is one of those definitions?
rightbyte 2y ago
Maybe the phrase I rather should have used would be "profiteering"? But according to Wikipedia, I think the "classic example" fits many SaaS vendors: The classic example of rent-seeking, according to Robert Shiller, is that of a property owner who installs a chain across a river that flows through their land and then hires a collector to charge passing boats a fee to lower the chain. There is nothing productive about the chain or the collector, nor do passing boats get anything in return. The owner has made no improvements to the river and is not adding value in any way, directly or indirectly, except for themselves. *All they are doing is finding a way to obtain money from something that used to be free*.
- robertlagrant 2y ago
  But how does that fit SAAS vendors? If someone cut my fibre wire and added a box that stopped it working if I didn't pay them, I would say that that is rent seeking. A SAAS vendor doesn't seem to fit that pattern.
  - rightbyte 2y ago
    Perpetual use of software used to be free after purchase. Nowadays SaaS is more or less the norm.
3np 2y ago
> Rent seeking is getting the government/a regulator to mandate the use of your service. That sounds like your personal narrower definition. Where did you get that from? The wider use is both historically and semantically accurate and I believe people familiar with the term will still recognize its intended meaning today. Needlessly making a physical product unusable without the continued subscription to an associated service, and designing the product in such a way that only the manufacturer can/may provide that service (aka vendor-lock-in) is pretty much rent-seeking, yeah. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking