Beware the Hype for Software as a Service
SUVs are not cool. They never were. You Hummer guys were drawing snickers a few years ago. Now, with the price of gas nearing $5 a gallon, we're laughing out loud. And Microsoft's Vista is not a failure. To date, the software company has sold more than 150 million units. Vista has made Microsoft a ton of money. Yes, yes -- it's preloaded on every new computer. And yes, of course -- it stinks. But no, it's not a failure.
A couple more myths to dispel: Cell phones cause brain damage. Some of the conversations conducted on a cell phone would lead you to believe this. But there's no evidence it's bad for the brain. It's also a myth that the longest day of the year is June 21. The longest day of the year for me was the Winter Middle School Orchestra Concert back in February. I know it was only an hour. But it didn't feel like it.
The biggest bucket of myths I hope to bust centers on a technology that many business owners are hearing a lot about these days. It's known as Software as a Service [SaaS], or the idea that you can get your software delivered conveniently, and at a low price, via the Web. Unlike buying software the old-fashioned way, by paying a big licensing fee up front, you pay for SaaS -- also referred to as on-demand software -- in pieces, spread out over time.
But as with most IT innovation, there's a lot of hype surrounding this technology -- so much so that many of us don't know what to believe. Is this a viable thing? Should we be using this stuff? Don't worry, folks. I've done some research into this SaaS thing. Let me debunk a few...