My girlfriend's dog explains why SaaS is the way to go

In a rapid-changing, technologically speaking, world every day, even hour, a new software product comes to life. Chances are that this product is web based.

That said, I see 2010 as the final year for a potential revolution from desktop-to-web apps.
The numbers are here, and the technology to do it too; we already saw the rise of javascript and css, squeezed to the extreme to craft nifty and useful web applications.
We are starting to see frameworks like Cappuccino along with Atlas, and Titanium.

There will be almost no difference for the end user in terms of usability.

But for us developers? Well, there are advantage is porting your legacy app to web and let them take a breath of fresh air; SaaS, software as a service, it’s a consolidated way of doing business. Oh, and nobody will be able to pirate your serial numbers, because they don’t need one.

Anyway, after this preface, I also see 2010 as a very bad year for Microsoft, let me tell you: I don’t care for Windows 7, like I didn’t cared about Windows ME and Vista. They were flops.

Like in politics, often you want to hide the problems of something, but few do it in-your-face. Enter Microsoft.

Microsoft can throw bubbles at a customer, but on a serious programmer or system builder? I doubt it.

I grin when someone speaks about a person that’s a “genius”, only to know him later and see that’s he’s a Windows addict. He only knows about his world. His choice, but I don’t and never will give him much credit.
Need a proof? Ask him about the new zuneFS introduced in Windows 7 and tell him that you are worried about the performance. He tried it and I don’t have to worry will be his reply. Except that this filesystem doesn’t exists.

Windows 7 will go live on 22th October here; when I was younger I strived to try to find all ways I could to be able to install new operating systems and play with them. I remember that when working as a technician (56k era) I also asked my colleagues if I can pick up some Windows installation CDs.
My phone line was consistently busy because I was downloading new software. One cd, then two and then (thanks RedHat) three.

I literally tried nearly every operating system on the face of the Earth. Bigger ones, still-unknown ones. Then came the Mac.

I’m not a software evangelist, neither I jump on bandwagons and don’t go from business to business spreading the word that Mac is better. I just naturally reply what constantly is asked to me: “what is better in this case”.

The vast majority of the time in the last two years, when asked about what’s the better operating system, I simply couldn’t not lie to my customer, in my whole experience the best nowadays is a Mac. Leopard, Snow Leopard, eck, even Tiger can stand against Vista.

I don’t like being religious about software, I try to stay away from people that acts that way. But Windows 7 is on the door and I, as a software developer, system administrator and professional OSs teacher, have to choose if I support it for my customer and business or not.

I choose not. No software is perfect but generally I hate when people try to sell you crap and they *insist* on saying that is gold. Only to look back two years later and say themselves “yes, that was kind of crap but this is better”. I don’t buy it.

I administer some small and medium sized business networks, and sometimes, like now, I have to take the customer the machine with me for the “formattation”, meaning erase everything and reinstall from zero, because the operating system become so unstable that’s nearly unusable. What a waste of time. Guess what machines I pick up home for repair. That’s right, all machines with Vista installed.

What my customers are asking in this case? They are begging me for a downgrade to Windows XP, not always possible in a clean way. Or they look at my Mac and asks about it and if they can, after making sure that they will not miss a thing after a switch, they buy it.

One thing I noticed is that I received at least -80% help calls from a single user when since he/she switched to a Mac. And all those people were Windows addicted and no expert by any means. It *means* something from my point of view.

Since giving a Mac to a bunch of users I have time to concentrate on my future projects, and theirs.

So, what will Windows 7 brings? New features? Stolen, maybe? To me will bring in another dose of pain, to the user and to the administrator. Except this time not only I will not permit this in my networks, but my contract with them will be clear: if your business is silly enough to be tied to Microsoft and install Windows 7, you also administer it.

And to business that thinks Mac are not cheap it’s true (well, not entirely), but what you save when you buy a Dell and Windows 7 compared to a Mac be prepared to give it away for assistance.

If you are a freelance maybe you simply can’t drop support for new Windows version.
But if you are solid in your ideas go on and it will be better for everyone. Software better than other always existed, it’s a matter of discovering it and taking the most out of it.

Apple delivers here. Enough said.

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