>Google Labs first taught us that I think this concept predates Google Labs. Not sure if they were the first significant cloud-based product to do that (likel

>Google Labs first taught us that I think this concept predates Google Labs. Not sure if they were the first significant cloud-based product to do that (likely they weren't). But even before the cloud when one has all of the software on their own machine, there was still a risk that the company that made it will pivot away from it/go out of business and stop providing fixes, etc.