Aug

27

Is SaaS the Recession Tactic for SW that Leasing was for HW?

Author: Jenny Schuchert
Filed Under Industry Observations | Leave a Comment 

Think about it.  Low upfront cost.   Monthly expense.  You are not in control, the stuff belongs to someone else.  You worry about being too dependent on a particular vendor.  You worry about losing things and the consequences to the bottom line.  Over the long term, you realize that it might be more expensive to keep doing this.  Hmm, sounds like leasing.  

Leasing is an option we understand well.  Our companies have used it during a period of change and needed  the flexibility of disposing of hardware easily.  Or, the technology desired was going to change soon and leasing made it possible to stop buying so that when warranties on previously purchased hardware ended, a major technology change could be rolled out.  Purchasing could then begin again. 

Is SaaS going to be “leasing” for software?  It has many of the same advantages except for the flexibility.  You either move an application to an SaaS model or you don’t.  Partial moves make no sense in this context.  An added advantage is reducing the need for technical staff on hand to keep it up and running as the vendor has to do that.  The use of vendor staff might be a good reason to switch to SaaS for smaller organziations.  For larger enterprises, losing the ability to customize, test and integrate with other systems might not make SaaS a winning choice.  

As usual, we shall see.  Predictions of cloud computing taking the SaaS model even further means that we should prepare for managing assets in these types of environments.  If these characteristics are beguiling during our current economic downturn, then more of us will be managing these types of applications on our assets and in our contracts than not.

SIIA has a webcast coming up in September on the viability of SaaS in a recession if you are interested.

Jul

31

Open Source Facing Compliance Issues Too

Author: Jenny Schuchert
Filed Under Industry Observations, Software License Compliance | Leave a Comment 

With the growth of “professional” versions of open source products, I have been waiting to see how software compliance would be dealt with.  Open source is the opposite ocean, designed for sharing, although everyone has adjusted to versions where the user is expected to pay.  Serdar Yegulalp of Information Week had some interesting remarks this week.  He talked to Movable Type, a company with a professional version as well as an open source version.  When asked about what they will do when they find unlicensed people using the professional version, Movable Type is quoted as saying it would be an opportunity for conversation and not for a law suit. 

Nothing new here, just our same problem arising within a new audience. 

To read more, check out Serdar’s notes from OSCON on Information Week. 

 

 

Jul

30

SIIA Cracking Down on Internet Software Pirates

Author: Jenny Schuchert
Filed Under Software License Compliance | Leave a Comment 

The Software and Information Industry Association recently announced that they have 32 lawsuits pending, all based on software piracy from internet auction sites such as E-Bay.  Each lawsuit was filed on behalf of Adobe, a client of SIIA.   Many strong lessons for us here:  First, don’t buy software from just anyone.  If the price is too good to be believed - it IS to good to be believed.  Buying software that way can cost the company money during contract negotiations, during an audit or worst case scenario - a lawsuit of your own. 

Second, put Adobe on the top of your management list.  If you are still working towards best practice SAM and have a good bit of manual research to do - put Adobe on the short list if you have considerable users in your environment. 

The lynch pin to your company’s efforts - proof of ownership.  http://www.siia.net/press/releases/mondello%20sentence%20ebay%20release%20FINALFINALFINAL%2072308.pdf

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