Client software vs. SaaS = Car vs. Subway
It’s not the ‘what’ or the ‘which’, it is the ‘how’. Desktop applications haven’t killed server applications: the former has taken the lead over the latter but server apps have in no way disappeared. Both technologies cooperate, collaborate & co-exist.
The same will go for web applications: Software as a Service won’t kill desktop applications, although the desktop apps business is necessarily to suffer from the rise of web apps. Just like server software suffered from the introduction of client software.
People are starting to have the choice to either use client software (desktop applications), or service software (SaaS, web apps), or both. The decision could be compared to purchasing and using a car vs. taking the subway – or both.
Using client software is like purchasing and driving a car: it is a true investment that is either pleasure-driven or efficiency-driven. The sales cycle may result pretty long, but you’re likely to get a discount. Maintainability (upgrades, support, administration) and energy supply (gas = electricity supply to host servers) can be costly , but in the long run, the availability rate should be pretty high (no need for Internet access to use it). The main hassle of using a car is probably the time it takes to find a parking space (hard drive space). A car can be pretty comfortable, customized (parameterized), and is a consistent choice when making a long trip. Furthermore, there’s no pickpocket in a car (better data security: hosted on site) but it is likely that you’re not going to meet many people (not so collaborative after all).
Using service software is like taking the Subway: you pay as you go (ticket) if you don’t travel so often, or you pay a subscription (monthly or yearly metro card); it’s pretty cheap and one may not negotiate prices. It might be quite unsafe sometimes (unless there are many security agents and then you feel like watched). However, it’s pretty handy, certainly more democratic, but available only in certain areas (big cities). Subways sometimes may not be so reliable (strikes), or comfortable (lots of traffic), but with the right state of mind, you’re certain to meet people. Last thing: the subway runs all the time and not only when you’re in the process of using it.
From this parallelism, I would like to draw 2 sorts of conclusions:
- the generalization of subways in all metropolis hasn’t constrained the democratization of the use of cars. A growing and everyday more globalized world is no zero-sum game: both Software as a Service and client applications markets will keep on growing.
- people living in cities (in our parallelism, people who have the choice ie well-off enough to be able to access the Internet) tend to be huge fans of cars, if they have a car at all. But pay well attention to car owners consuming habits and you’ll notice that in many, but very specific, occasions they choose to take the subway rather than driving. In other words, car drivers use a mix of both worlds to go from one point to another.
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Interesting point of view. Thanks.
You’re welcome Patrice.
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