Bad idea.
|
| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| salparadise May 15, 2006 11:44 AM EDT |
You may call me cynical, but, I have doubts about this "inevitable trend towards software as a service". The main problems I have with this are security and the likelihood that the plan is for a subscription based service. "We are very much focused on the push to the Internet-enabled PC," Schwarz said. Uh? Oh I see, the internet that I can access with a click of the mouse is not the real internet then. All these years I thought I was surfing the net when in fact I was on some pretend version. Is this why Debian comes on 14 cd's, cus it has to have the pretend internet to install? I like my computer. You know why? Because it's MY computer. And if I want, I can unplug the internet and still be able to do all the things I want and my data is on my computer, where it belongs until I say otherwise. And that's the way I'm going to stay. This idea of a limited software pc with all the "killer apps" being remotely served is a control freaks dream come true. |
| alc May 15, 2006 12:28 PM EDT |
Ajax13's strategy follows what many in the industry see as an unstoppable trend - the movement toward software as a service. Even Microsoft expects many of its own bulky applications that today sit on a home computer and have to be upgraded on a regular basis to eventually be replaced with web services. If MS thinks it's a good idea,then no thanks.I prefer my things to be on my computer not somewhere that I may or may not be able to get to.It will be interesting to see how this company does. |
| theboomboomcars May 15, 2006 12:38 PM EDT |
I don't want to have to depend on someone else to use my computer, which is why i like FLOSS. It's my computer and I will do what I like with it wether or not it is hooked to the internet or not. |
| dinotrac May 15, 2006 12:43 PM EDT |
I think most real believers in software as a service are heavily into wishful thinking, or, rather, wi$hful thinking. I believe there absolutely is a place for software as a service. Absolutely. But... One of the things I work with is SugarCRM, which my wife uses as a tool in her job. One of the themes that comes up on the Sugar Forums is people who are former Salesforce.com users or who have decided against it even though Sugar may lack some functionality. The reason? They don't want to give up control of their data. That will aways be a concern with software as a service. |
| tuxchick2 May 15, 2006 1:02 PM EDT |
Software as a service is like DRM. The folks who think it is great do not have customer interests at heart. Ever since software companies realized that folks don't like buying the same thing year after year, they have seen subscription services as a way to keep da money flowing. Which still doesn't solve the problem of customers don't want to buy the same thing over and over. It's kind of amusing, in a retarded way. |
| grouch May 15, 2006 1:06 PM EDT |
salparadise: >'This idea of a limited software pc with all the "killer apps" being remotely served is a control freaks dream come true.' It sure seems like a desire to return to the days before the personal computer 'revolution': Please, please o great god of the mainframe, take my humble offering of punch cards and papertape, and return to me some data that might be mine or mixed with many others when you have time to notice my lowly batch is complete. The idea seems to be to reforge those chains and add a few to them. There is a squeeze play to rent bits of control to today's PCs while preparing to rent both function and storage for tomorrow's PC shells (aka thin clients). I'm glad there are lots of hard-headed, stubborn people in the world, especially amongst engineers and developers. |
| Bob_Robertson May 15, 2006 1:53 PM EDT |
The closest "software as a service" that I have any real interest in is collaborative services, like Orcutt or Linkedin. Sure. But you don't get to keep my working data. Inside of an office I could see it, just like running one (or a cluster) highly-redundant super server and everyone else running what amount to X-terminals, so that the company has a central location for data, applications, backups, etc. But am I going to give my personal data to someone else for safe keeping? Am I going to rent space in their word processor? Am I going to run a business where all the documents, spreadsheets, database records, are stored on someone else's server? Can you say "Target of Opportunity"? |
| sbenitezb May 15, 2006 1:56 PM EDT |
I think it's better to have all my information in my own computer and to access it from anywere through SSH or NX (or HTTP/FTP). I don't want to be locked in like I was with closed source software. I've learnt the lesson from the past and don't want to repeat misstakes. I won't give my freedom because of a trend. The next thing that will happen is they will ask you for more and more money to allow you to access your data. Web applications are a panacea but also restrict your freedom. All your data doesn't belong to you, and no matter all the privacy policies they will show on their front pages, you can't be sure they won't analyze, extract, sell, share, trade your information. Who wants that? |
Posting in this forum is limited to members of the group: [ForumMods, SITEADMINS, MEMBERS.]
Becoming a member of LXer is easy and free. Join Us!