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Let's assume one thing. You have NOMNOM ready to be installed on thousands of your clients computers and used, but oh wait, you catch the SaaS bandwagon, and decide to prdocue NOMNOM.COM and make people pay 1/12th for it.

Saas Sucks because

compared to your Traditional Desktop Software development.....

  1. SaaS takes more time & effort to make because you have to account for scalability.
  2. SaaS takes more money because you have to invest in some servers and hardware.
  3. SaaS takes more equity selling (basically u losing ownership partially to VCs, "BFF").
  4. SaaS takes more ass kissery because your customers can always cancel subscriptions.
  5. SaaS takes more debt cuz you have to wait till you get positive cash flow & critical mass.
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closed as not a real question by Zuly Gonzalez♦ Sep 8 '11 at 15:43

It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form. For help clarifying this question so that it can be reopened, see the FAQ.

5 Answers

up vote 1 down vote accepted

Use both. Each has its own revenue stream and advantages. For example, there's TurboxTax desktop edition and you can file online. Intuit makes money for both. Microsoft sells desktop applications and has Azure for cloud computing. The upcoming MS Office can be used online and as a client desktop software.

Keep your options open.

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up vote 15 down vote

I would argue that SaaS > Traditional Desktop Software, except for applications that can't easily offload processing power to the server (i.e. gaming, video editing). Here is why:

  • SaaS takes less time & effort to make even when you account for scalability.
  • SaaS eliminates piracy.
  • SaaS eliminates painful upgrades.
  • SaaS allows for faster iterations and release cycles.
  • SaaS being subscription based allows for a more predictable revenue stream.
  • SaaS leverages web standards and let's you "write once, run everywhere."
  • SaaS centralizes information. You can login from wherever you wish to.
  • SaaS allows easier integration with other applications and social features.
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+1 What he said – ThomPete Feb 4 '10 at 12:29
+1, and another: SaaS "cross platform" issues can be reproduced with a pile of free browsers. Installed software deals with far more platform issues including competition with other software. – Jason Feb 4 '10 at 16:21
on your first point actually addresses my original 5 disadvantages of SaaS. SaaS seems to benefit the consumer more than the vendor is just what im saying. Cross platform can be addressed using Qt4, building software that runs across windows, linux, mac. There are statistics that show SaaS costs more time and capital compared to traditional software development. – jfjhf Feb 4 '10 at 22:43
dont mistake the fact that SaaS is going to be a replacement for traditional desktop software. SaaS will be just another fruit of the bunch, compared to the huge market cap of traditional software industry.... – jfjhf Feb 4 '10 at 22:51
Dont forget you are building a web application in SaaS. you have to deal with cross browser issues as well. – jfjhf Feb 4 '10 at 22:52
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up vote 2 down vote
  1. There are better tools now, but supporting the distribution and installation of an application really sucks. You'll lose sales if they can't get help with installation. Just be thankful for the Internet.
  2. You do have to invest in servers and hardware, so your customers don't (See #1). For a large-scale app, you'll be doing the installation.
  3. No Comment
  4. Ever had a client ask for a refund after using your app for 8 months? How about renewing that service agreement?
  5. If I bought an application, I would want a longer trial period. For enterprise level software, everyone is going to want payment terms. You don't hire a building inspector when you rent a house.

Now you've got me thinking of the good-ol'-days of mailing floppies, burning CD's and paying long-distance fees to use PCAnywhere with your 56K modem. And don't forget to wait for your client to swap the phone line from fax machine to their pc.

Then again, I'm thankful I wasn't a Coghead subscriber.

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how hard is it to install a software ? your customer can always ditch you after trying out your software for 30 days. but when they purchase, you are able to maximize your revenue per customer by selling desktop software compared to SaaS which gives customer the freedom to pay monthly or a portion of what you would get with desktop software sale. – jfjhf Feb 4 '10 at 22:46
For many users, when the "Click Here to Install" menu pops-up, they're not sure what they're suppose to do. Maybe your customers are teenagers who grew up with a Mac in their mouth? – JeffO Feb 5 '10 at 1:30
i think if they have trouble with even the most simple tasks like that then i probably dont want them as a client. – jfjhf Feb 5 '10 at 6:21
Selecting clients is an admirable goal. – JeffO Feb 5 '10 at 15:09
up vote 1 down vote

I would disagree.

  • SaaS is good because you don't have to deal with multiple versions of the application
  • SaaS is good because users never need to follow complex upgrade paths... it just happens
  • SaaS is good because users can access from anywhere... at work, at home, overseas
  • SaaS is good because (depending on your setup) you can access via mobile devices (iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, etc.)
  • SaaS is good because you can easily "push" notifications to any/all of your users and ensure they get them
  • SaaS is good because hackers can't decompile/pirate your S/W
  • SaaS is good when dealing with Enterprise software. No one wants to commit to $1M+ up front, but a $5,000/mo. fee is a much easier sell.

PS I've been building/working on SaaS apps for the best part of the last decade.

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while i agree i like the "write once" and deploy, this can easily be solved by writing with Qt4, in which the software runs across all platforms. Most softwares today have built in updaters that updates itself. Your customer dont necessarily need to access the software from public library but it depends on what they are doing. .... SaaS is not a replacement for enterprise software....it never will be. – jfjhf Feb 4 '10 at 22:48
It all depends on the application. Try knocking SalesForce.com out with a desktop application... not likely. Though I think one of the biggest positives I can think of is that you have instant stats as to exactly what your users are doing with your app. You can do A/B testing on-the-fly and the device independence is a really nice perk. – scunliffe Feb 11 '10 at 18:20
up vote 0 down vote

Are you asking a question or making a statement? It seems like the latter since you're debating all of the answers you receive.

From a sales and marketing perspective, the advantages to SaaS can be huge. Online solutions require less up-front capital investment and less infrastructure from customers, meaning they can adopt it more easily at an individual or departmental rather than enterprise level. The challenges to enterprise sales have already been well documented, but they include expensive direct salespeople, extremely long sales cycles, and challenging account planning. SaaS doesn't entirely resolve these issues, but it can make them much less difficult. So, especially for many startups, selling subscription software should be pretty much a no-brainer compared to traditional packaged software.

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+1 for your initial observation Greg. 'jfjhf' - if you have come to this site to learn or to engage in meaningful debate, that's great, but please be aware that Answers.Onstartups is different to sites like, say, StackOverflow.com, where it seems that arrogance and rudeness is quite the norm. Here it isn't, IMHO. As per Greg's point, if you have an opinion to promote, then I would suggest starting a blog instead. Apologies up front if I've misread you. – Steve Wilkinson Apr 8 '10 at 9:01