Despite the Revenue to Show for IT, SaaS Plays Second Fiddle

Saas-ssssteppin' Up

Quick.

Name a SaaS App that has made the Web roll over its tail and basically create one event after another just to be able to come up with a consensus definition that is obsolete by the end of a quarter.

Tell me it's not Google Docs. You might even drop the name Salesforce but then fail to come up with a single App to feel giddy about.

But that is how it is with SaaS. Like predator searching for its prey, it has remained quiet and agile to net those enterprise deals.

Now, should the web world continue to crow about cloud computing or is about time that SaaS and a legion of web apps take the lead? Anyway, both have same goal: disruption and a new way of doing things (and save everyone money, too).

If you want, you can stick to proprietary...

Related:
Using prudence and cloud resources to get what cloud computing can do for you

With Technology, Things Can Get Pretty Ugly in an Instant, too.

First things first. Phelps. Drowning in Gold. Greatest?

Ugly side of things. Cyberattacks: Tech at War

iphone is now a BestBuy. En Masse. Sale!!!

All Cloud:
Before everything else, cloud questions. Is it right for you?
It still means cloudy. Rackspace now gets it via the ugly route.

Down? Not Cloud PC, too? Cherry Pal may take longer... Arghh. And not to take this sitting down, Asus Eee goes for cloud storage. Way to gooooo.

Cloud to Mist, Pffft: Google Sh*ts by CogDog

SaaS Top 8. Now, this is how to play Wall Street ala Gordon Gecko...

IT Brain Food from Prof. MacAfee. On Research.
Twitter Freemium? This is not limiting me. Not at all and I'd go nuts having 500 followers.

Mozilla Snowl? I'd stay off for the meantime or defrag my brain to process all that. Aumm.

Cloud Computing, Blogging and SaaS: Change is Gonna Come

First off, just found this article on CTO's and the reasons for failure and frankly, it could just be anybody on any position but I believe our Guy isn't one of them.

SaaS, well not for SaaS, actually. 5 Myths of SaaS. Anybody care to respond for the SaaS side? Maybe, I will take a stab. Maybe...

Conversion and migrations: Keywords for SaaS adoption. Here's an example.

Presenting the Top Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0 Bloggers. First Twenty. Watch that ego, go....

Cloud Compute:
Let Go and Let the Cloud: How Cloud Computing is Changing the World. Thanks to Experientia for the shoutout.

Comparing the Clouds: EC2, Mosso and GoGrid.

Events: Happening this September.
Gartner's Web Innovation Summit. It's about Web 2.0, SaaS and Cloud Computing.

Web 2.0 Expo in New York.

Know what the future of Blogging reputedly is going to be like. Here. Like 24-hour party people and not just with a camera because it's social.

Cloud: Bread Talk

Others can eat tasteless cloud bread, but more just can't.

Even with the continued hype at this point, cloud computing is still far from achieving that level of efficiency people and enterprises wish for it to be. But it goes without saying that, it doesn't stop enterprises to start early.

Yet, why wait for that ideal cloud that may not take shape within the next 24 months or so? (As they found out) There's PaaS or platform as a service and think of it as 'jam' to make the 'cloud' bread palatable and digestible. That's real food for thought. Shameless plug.

Thoughts on the ideal PaaS.
IBM's got clouds, too.

And SaaS

SaaS for ISV's: The final thoughts. Best if you read them all.

While others move to SaaS, there's a few moving away from it and for good cause. E-write Lite.

Grails and Flex: Contribute your thoughts and it might make it's way to a new book. Here.

I know you've got your fave software so check if it matches these Lifehacker's editors list.

See Google run... transport, that is.

My cup of tee. Motion comics, wee!

Mean Lean, Green, Portable Cloud Machine

Amazon Outage caused no data loss; except loss for words to describe frustration. What outage? Ask Mor.ph and it's Morph Appspace customers. Nada. And Phil's right on this one on the solution.

Frustrated or just plain link-baiting: Lacy isn't SaaS-sy. Slog, she says. Say what, Bob? Schadenfraude.

Cloud PC, Ultra-Portables and Web Tablet? This isn't OLPC but it would be a worthy alternative as long as the price remains within reach for mere laboring mortals like me. No more aching backs and software clutter that you rarely use - given that you are aware that there are some that is actually installed. First out of the gate, the CherryPal. More.

Twhirl: While competition continues to creep on Twitter, see who's making the most of it.

Use your opposable digit! Rule of Thumb for every problem or concern.

Big Bangers: CERN, Facebook, Clouds and SaaS

Big Bang: Whatever this is, it must be important? Playing advanced physics is the CERN Project.

As we move closer to f8, let us revisit how the much ballyhooed platform has performed after being touted as the next big thing. Oh and if anybody is into Ruby on Rails and would want to put web apps on it, you should definitely check this out. Morph Appspace

Print and Publish, Web-Style. Lulu and Scribd. That means easy.

Cloud Computing.

Computing the cost. Will we ever come to a standard rate?

The Invisible Infostructure. Sound good.

SaaS creates cloud computing alternatives. Like proprietary platforms? Why can't we see more open source ones. I know, it's complicated.

Does this SaaS app sound like 'Terminator' or something wickedly cool? Don't ask me as I also don't have any idea what it is. Registro!

Mixing the Cocktail in the Cocktail Conversation -Social Media

Programming:

• The name alone says it all. Groovy Actors. (Is there a casting couch? Nope, not me but for mor.ph?)
• I don't have much time nor money to spare so I need to learn it now. Sorry, because "it's 10 years, bro", says Peter Norvig.
• RubyKaigi2008. An interview with Matz and a recap, in two parts.
• Kontra Lason - Kapeng Barako to Java: Duke's Choice Awardee.

Social Media is a Cocktail Party from Mike Wagner. I'll drink to that.


On hand or on head? I admit. A beautifully printed photo is still a marvel to look at and hold. Jeremiah's take on this.

SaaS Collaboration Tool called Group Swim from Ben Kepes and RWW.

Cloud Computing. We're still counting definitions and we're not even close to finding which will be the standard. Another one.

5 Important Questions to Ask Before Making That SaaS Move

This just makes so much SaaS sense that I'm putting this as a separate post. With permission, of course from Mr. David Abrawowski.

SaaS Trust and Confidence

Buyer beware! Careful, unstable application ahead! Your data is at Risk! These are a few of the labels that should be visible on the front page of many Software as a Service offerings today.

Just recently I heard a story about an online software company that made a system administration mistake and their users information just vanished into thin air. The company apologized to their customers and blamed it on the fact they were still in beta. No recovery, no data, no nothing - just an “oops”. Imagine if that was you. Imagine if your company lost several days of your CRM data or months of your accounting records because your Software as a Service vendor didn’t really know how to run the back end systems?

We have a strange phenomena in business today. We tend to blindly trust just about any web site. And if that web site has official looking features like secured payments through PayPal or a Hacker Free label, we tend to trust it even more. But what about the reality of today’s Software as a Service. In a matter of minutes almost any developer can take an open source project and then host it on a $10/month internet account. They can immediately sign up for PayPal and get a hacker free certification in a matter of minutes. The developer can create a fancy sign up page and start to take your money. You begin to put your valuable customer data into the online service with a hope that the software vendor/consultant knows how to keep it safe and keep the application up and running. But as more stories of data loss and application problems surface, it’s up to the buyer to start to put pressure back onto the SaaS providers to ensure that we increase the trust and confidence of online applications.

Before you trust a SaaS provider and put your confidence in their system, you need to ask some questions. You need to know if the application is going to be available, if your data is going to be safe and what the company is doing to make sure everything stays up and running. On the flip side, many SaaS providers are going above and beyond. They just don’t tell their customers. Therefore to be proactive, I suggest that every SaaS provider have a simple web page that answers these questions to help increase the confidence and trust in their applications:

1. Is there built in redundancy for the application and the infrastructure so that it is going to be available when I need to use it?

2. How is my data kept safe and secure from other users or hackers on the internet?

3. If there is a failure, are you prepared to handle it quickly and is my data recoverable? How often do you backup my data?

4. Do you monitor the system & the application on a continuous basis? If there is a problem, who is watching the system and how long until they will be able to fix it?

5. Do you keep the system up to date with security patches & fixes on a regular basis?

BBC's Cloud Clicks; More SaaS for the rest of us

Part of LG Ad; Thanks to Szymon

I honestly think TV still has quite a great many punches left. Yes, I've been spending way too much time in front of a keyboard and even if it isn't much of a difference, 'sitting back and letting the reins' by turning on the box can also help me re-charge a bit.

Funny thing is, seems like web is out to get me as I can't get past BBC's Click. Check their top cloud links.

SaaS: The Hunters and Farmers Can any person or worker actually do everything and be successful on the SaaS field? Maybe, but having roles to play can be more efficient.

SaaS for those who still don't get it.

Open Source, GPL and SaaS from Mike Beckerle. I do believe this is going to be a source of a lot of discussions and people better start now.

More SaaS pricing itself out

POSS Egress

Stillwater, a Zen propaganda panda, serves tea in an illustration by Jon J. Muth from ''Zen Shorts.''(NY Times)

Anyone who has participated in an exhibit knows the extent of work put into coming up with a decent and classy booth. But it doesn't give you an idea of the work entailed to tear it all down and salvage all the materials for future events. Whew. Thanks to all those hands which made the work easier.

Re-POSS link. Max L, a multi-talented journalist, whom I finally was able to meet covered the event in his blog an includes a phrase or two from Open Source advocate, Winston Damarillo of Morph Labs!

Marching on is Reddit, now is full Open Source. Ho hum Java, too?

Java's getting Cloudy

Behaviors, Parenting and SaaS: Read and get the picture.

Twitter-addicts: Shrink that URL. Not just Tiny.cc. URL Small. And a bunch of others. And for the non-wimps, go big.

BIG as in Boston big! Click on and be awed by the big picture. Literally.


RIP. Those who perished aboard the Princess and other typhoon victims. Ghastly. Prayers and thoughts for the families.

Post-POSS

Highlights from the 2nd Day from sessions I attended at the POSS.

SugarCRM. I was able to catch a brief talk about this open source CRM and seeing how lightweight it is as an application is quite SaaS-sy. Will be testing it more on the next couple of days as I was able to get a demo cd.

Open Source in the Academe, Gov't and NGOs.
Take-aways.

1. IBM Phils. bullish on RP IT sector. Partnering on their SSME programs with a lot of colleges and universities.

2. DCI - Official IT company that handles and manages all Philippine government agencies IT needs still into proprietary software under the pretense of being unbiased and "pro-choice". Uh-oh. How about pro-cost-effective? I hope I misread that.

Had the temerity to stand up and speak about the SaaS option in general but I don't think I got my message right in this room of execs and officials. They thought I was doing a marketing pitch. Nooooo.

3. Mark Buenconsejo on Ruby on Rails for Pinoy IT. Hope he does encourage some more RoR guys. Pity that I did not win the Rails book he was giving away.

Then, a smooth segue to SaaS and PaaS as discussed by our main man, David Abramowski. What can I say? Just proud to be there listening to a great explanation as usual. Will post some pics later so you'll see what I mean.

SaaS can't price itself out of business

Amy Wohl is worried SaaS companies may be too focused on commoditization and drag itself down.


While Symantec now goes all out SaaS-sy, reports Jeff Kaplan.

Platforms over software and Android is aiming at mobile. Onwards to a new Google frontier. (Unreasonable Men)

Job Boards for Rails (on the morphexchange, huh!) and Grails!


Grails Podcast from Sven. Check 'em out as he includes Grails deployment via mor.ph. Woohoo.

Trad Vendors: SaaS Will Bite You in The -Aas

Courtesy of blogs.chron.com

Traditional ISVs who now plan to shift to SaaS. "It's like letting loose the pesky dog you're trying to discipline. Time to get a hamster."

On Open Standards and Open Sourced Standards. Simon just took me back to school and talked GPLv3 to me.

How international capital flows would be affected by SaaS. Tell me it won't all just funnel back to North America.

SaaS Platform Wars: Java come out jabbing. Stop fighting kids.

Again, again, again. SaaS Hosting - the way textbooks would present it in school.

Is Localization The Farthest SaaS Customization Can Take You?

The map, made by John Yunker, is a registered trademark of Byte Level Research, LLC. All rights reserved.

It must have begun with 37 signals advocating this, a masterpiece of business letter indicating good riddance. “If you need something we don’t have, if you’ve outgrown our software, we wish you the best.” Byron wrote an interesting post to keep the SaaS discussion alive and many a good SaaS startups would do well to follow his rules. (I especially love the hunter vs farmers strategy.) But then again, not all says Martin Snyder. As far as he is concerned, cash on hand is well cash that goes to the coffers, anywhere in the planet they might be calling from.

Then comes Ben's rejoinder that does merit your attention. He adds something that deserves special recognition - of SaaS needing to be viral. How can anyone miss that? Businesses are still made up of users and individuals, right?

So what of customization? Though requests are inevitable, most agree that it just eats too much of the resources and for a SaaS startup it really isn't a priority. But is it easier to capitulate once the company is big and awash with cash and resources already? I get the feeling that it won't make sense either. But then again, is there a cash amount that could help sway the vote, Martin? I wonder.

If Content is Mostly Written, Why Not Make the Process Cool

Writing can be such a chore. Most resort to gimmicks to further their writing or blogging career by being caffeinated or by going into seclusion. Others, by letting it all hang out and going into trance hoping the words redeem themselves as it strings into cohesive phrases. Never mind if it fails to make sense. If it does, well and good. If it borders on mumbo-jumbo stuff, call it poetry or creative writing.

And if you plan to go otherworldly and would like to add a dash of hacker feel to it, why not try Dark Copy? It bills itself as a simplified writing tool that harks back to the days of using the simple typewriter. Me, I like it because it makes me feel like Neo.

But if you belong to the really old-school type, then sign yourself up for an account at Penzu. It gives you the look and feel of writing on paper, complete with lines that can take you back to the days of sending love letters without actually harming any tree. Too bad you can't fold it into a plane and send it flying through the air. (But that would be a great idea for a UI, don't you think?)

By the way, you can also publish whatever it is you write online by signing-up to Morph helpMe. But you already knew that, don't you.

PS. You don't need to install any of these applications to work. So in a way, these are similar to a SaaS app offering.

Bedfellows: Is Ruby the perfect match for SaaS

Hey, I don't intend to add fuel to the fire of language wars as it has been a raging debate intense enough to rival the current US Democratic presidential aspirants.

But consider this. Now that SaaS is clearly going mainstream and as more and more businesses consider SaaSsyfying their applications, which programming language would most of them adopt?

Will they go the way of social network tools such as Facebook or Myspace that have scale as a driving force in choosing the language and/or follow the web site as web application principle to easily reach more customers for an easier learning curve?

Or will eventually cascade to advantages and risks that concern Ruby, Java, Php, Python and the others. Remember. we're talking implications on SaaS only.

SaaS to PaaS and ultimately, the CLaaS (Clouds as a Service)

Just read that wonderful post from Kent at Production Scale about the '-aaS' clarifications. Let me offer my two-cents worth on the subject. You can skip the CLaaS, just thought it sounded uhm classy. Not.

We won't be going to historical details here with regards to dates. What I'm after is a confirmation regarding the natural progression of Software as a Service.

Simply put, Software as a service refers to a method of deployment wherein applications can be accessed via the web as opposed to the traditional model of software installation on your computer. Samples of which are the mail apps like Yahoo Mail and Gmail and best made into a web byword by the highly successful CRM apps company called Salesforce.

SaaS exposed, not only the need for a successful conglomeration of web apps to be made easily available via a single site and easily accessible by demand, but more importantly, that apps need to be more or less housed in a common platform.

Consider the benefits:

1. It gives users - both business and individual consumers, a common point of experience which equates to shorter learning curve resulting in faster adoption.

2. Developers tend to congregate using common expertise on programming languages. Nothing better than a platform to unite 'em all. And what good is SaaS if you don't have the apps to showcase?

3. A common platform allows companies who offer SaaS easier maintenance requirements. This translates to savings that can be passed on to both third party developers and ultimately to users.

It doesn't stop there. On demand apps and on demand platform can only reside in the web. And so comes the Cloud.

Surely there is still a lot of debate on the eventuality of the (few) Clouds ruling over the whole computing space. But business is business. And as long as SaaS, PaaS and Cloud players continue to offer very good deals (esp under threat of recession) leading to better revenue, the march towards increased business adoption will continue faster than pundits expected.

Gang Green

I've wanted to write about 'going green' for some time now because primarily, it is a global concern with far-reaching implications. But beyond the usual waste management and energy conservation, I guess most of us, like myself, have belittled how personal and business technology can greatly contribute to pushing green. But better late than never. Here's Green IT.

I guess you can also include SaaS and enterprise infrastructure to be good green IT investments. Power grids located in Alaska or Siberia and the spread of virtualization are only the beginning. And favor for cloud compute vs disparate servers sure can save electricity. And we hope to build on that and reap real world benefits while the search for alternate planets to live goes on.

Find out more here, here and here...

More ideas, please!

My problem with Saas, literally.

Does anybody know that entire researchers and analysts devote their precious time (and even spend a lot of coffee money) on this big thing called Software-as-a-Service or SaaS? Many don't and even I failed to get it despite hearing about it for the latter part of last year. Nobody can point to poor press as the culprit. Uh uh. And despite CRM and the like, SaaS is hardly street conversation fodder. To think, there's plenty of business and a long money trail ...

Maybe, SaaS is the problem. Literally. I know some people have beef with it like Mr. Phil. Well, semantics. That was a knee-jerk reaction. But it does get on you when friends and relatives bug you to explain what you try to write and devote time to blog about it.

But words and literature always come to the rescue. No amount of geek-talk or tech terminology will able to get the SaaS message across our target users. We just have to employ age-old, storytelling tactics like metaphors. Nick did and so did Greg. And personally, I think it works. Or as the best CEO read for 2007 claims, stories make it stick.

Spread the SaaS love, Web 2.0

99.9% as a number is nothing to be scoffed at. I don't remember even getting those numbers academically (maybe once during a research presentation where the dean thought I was exceptional - which I promise to never happen again or I'll eat okra for breakfast).

But with web services, 99.9% is a big deal and outages, depending on perspectives, can either spell trouble and opportunity. Honestly, I don't find anything unusual about outages. They happen and will happen, as certain as the next big tsunami that experts warned coastline residents about. Oh, I guess no one ever saw it and if one did, he was taken for a fool and/or got no PR.

SLAs, building trust, contingency plans and just being upfront with downtimes can lessen the headaches but in the long run it will always be the values added to the services that will carry on the relationships, between startups, established companies and surprise, between people, too

And that's Web 2.0 for you.