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Why SaaS is in Trouble
- mark_l_watson 11y agoThe author mentions Slack as a winning, for now, SaaS but then talks about deploying open source SaaS projects to your own cloud or servers using containers. But, is there an open source version of Slack? No.
- jqm 11y agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9770322 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9770322
- dennybritz 11y agoSorry for the confusion, I mentioned Slack as an example as software that replaced something that was not defensible (Hipchat). It wasn't meant to be an example for open source or container software. My mistake for not making that clear. That being said, I believe there will be a good open source version of Slack at some point. In fact, there is quite a number of people who do not want to move from Hipchat to Slack only because they need to deploy it within their own infrastructure because of compliance.
- PhilWright 11y agoI completely disagree with the article. There are innumerable small businesses that do not and never will have their own cloud setup, no matter how easy you make it. SaaS is exactly what they need because if they can access the Internet then they can use the service. This is simple to understand and use. Your local plumber, baker and candlestick maker have no idea what the cloud is, let alone open source software.
- dennybritz 11y agoNo disagreement here, but depending on which type of SaaS service you are talking about your local bakers and plumbers make up a very small number of the users (or revenue). They don't use Analytics, expensive CRMs, payroll services, etc. Services like these make most of their money from larger corporations or tech companies who are more likely to move away from the SaaS cloud. But you're totally right about services where the majority of revenue comes from local SMBs.