Difference between revisions of "Collection talk:SaaSS"

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m (What exactly is the objection to SAAS?)
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== What exactly is the objection to SAAS? ==
 
== What exactly is the objection to SAAS? ==
  
the "Service as a Software Substitue" parody is the source of much confusion about the underlying warning against "Software As A Service" (SAAS) - to take it so literally is presuming that the service in question is operated by someone other than the end-user - saying that service is a substitute for software is only to say that one could be doing that same computing on their own machine instead of relying on someone else to provide that service or data - the fundamental objection there is not regarding the particular functionality that the program provides, but who owns and operates the machine that it is running on - the same concern can be applied equally to most or all network services including passive storage and messaging relay - if one self-hosts a SAAS program, it is still "Software As A Service" but RMS's objection, which is a concern for the user's freedom and privacy, no longer applies; because all of their computations and data reside on their own machine and not anyone else
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the "Service as a Software Substitue" parody is the source of much confusion about the underlying warning against "Software As A Service" (SAAS) - to take it so literally is presuming that the service in question is operated by someone other than the end-user - to be clear, a network service IS software; so saying that service is a substitute for software is only to say that one could be doing that same computing on their own machine instead of relying on someone else to provide that service or data - the fundamental objection there is not regarding the particular functionality that the program provides, but who owns and operates the machine that it is running on - the same concern can be applied equally to most or all network services including passive storage and messaging relay - if one self-hosts a SAAS program, it is still "Software As A Service" but RMS's objection, which is a concern for the user's freedom and privacy, no longer applies; because all of their computations and data reside on their own machine and not anyone else
  
 
indeed, passive storage is not SAAS in the strict sense, but there is no strict definition of SAAS anyways - it is just a confusing marketing buzzword like "the cloud" - in practice they both just mean: "let someone else handle that for you" - in the loose sense every network service is a form of SAAS - to recommend that people uses emacs instead of google web docs to edit a file that is stored on google servers, but not recommending that they go the extra step and host their own storage, is to lose sight of the underlying message: that it is better do one's own computing and not to trust or rely on any 3rd party for any reason
 
indeed, passive storage is not SAAS in the strict sense, but there is no strict definition of SAAS anyways - it is just a confusing marketing buzzword like "the cloud" - in practice they both just mean: "let someone else handle that for you" - in the loose sense every network service is a form of SAAS - to recommend that people uses emacs instead of google web docs to edit a file that is stored on google servers, but not recommending that they go the extra step and host their own storage, is to lose sight of the underlying message: that it is better do one's own computing and not to trust or rely on any 3rd party for any reason

Revision as of 18:01, 16 February 2018

What is SaaSS and examples

From the article on GNU.org about SaaSS there are examples of what is or isn't SaaSS. But let's elaborate on that even more so that the table doesn't deviate from its purpose.

The "end-user" or "user" here means someone who won't host an entire server to run a simple software.

  • Storing things in a server isn't SaaSS.
  • Editing things that are stored in a server, using a online editor, is SaaSS.
  • Uploading photos or videos to some publishing website isn't SaaSS.
  • Editing photos that will be published in some website, using the site's online editor, is SaaSS.
  • Emacs or some other text editor using Google Docs or Google Drive APIs to connect to these and edit documents, isn't SaaSS. Because the editing happens in the text editor, not in Google's online editor.

--Adfeno (talk) 15:48, 16 February 2018 (EST)

Addendum: Using an online service to edit things collaboratively isn't SaaSS, because a simple user couldn't do that alone. --Adfeno (talk) 15:55, 16 February 2018 (EST)


What exactly is the objection to SAAS?

the "Service as a Software Substitue" parody is the source of much confusion about the underlying warning against "Software As A Service" (SAAS) - to take it so literally is presuming that the service in question is operated by someone other than the end-user - to be clear, a network service IS software; so saying that service is a substitute for software is only to say that one could be doing that same computing on their own machine instead of relying on someone else to provide that service or data - the fundamental objection there is not regarding the particular functionality that the program provides, but who owns and operates the machine that it is running on - the same concern can be applied equally to most or all network services including passive storage and messaging relay - if one self-hosts a SAAS program, it is still "Software As A Service" but RMS's objection, which is a concern for the user's freedom and privacy, no longer applies; because all of their computations and data reside on their own machine and not anyone else

indeed, passive storage is not SAAS in the strict sense, but there is no strict definition of SAAS anyways - it is just a confusing marketing buzzword like "the cloud" - in practice they both just mean: "let someone else handle that for you" - in the loose sense every network service is a form of SAAS - to recommend that people uses emacs instead of google web docs to edit a file that is stored on google servers, but not recommending that they go the extra step and host their own storage, is to lose sight of the underlying message: that it is better do one's own computing and not to trust or rely on any 3rd party for any reason

so there is actually nothing implicitly objectionable about SAAS - the proper prescription for SAAS alternatives may very well be to use programs that are, strictly speaking, "SAAS" themselves; but the key distinction being to self-host them - the same should apply to file storage, web hosting, and anything else that could be self-hosted (which is nearly everything) - and people should stop repeating these fuzzy marketing terms such as "SAAS" and "the cloud" as if they have any determinate scope of applicability --Bill-auger (talk) 16:48, 16 February 2018 (EST)



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