Is SaaS nothing more than rebranded ASP?

[Bill Fuller]

It appears that one of the latest hot buzzwords is SaaS (Software as a
Service). From what I can tell, this looks like nothing more than rebranding
of the old ASP model, which fell out of favor. Am I correct, or is there
really something new and interesting here?

[Jeroen Mostert]

Bill Fuller wrote:

It appears that one of the latest hot buzzwords is SaaS (Software as a
Service). From what I can tell, this looks like nothing more than rebranding
of the old ASP model, which fell out of favor. Am I correct, or is there
really something new and interesting here?

Whatever there is, it's not C#. Or .NET, even. Try a more general ng. (I
don't know which ones specialize in buzzwords.)

--
J.
http://symbolsprose.blogspot.com

[Bill Fuller]

Actually, it came up in discussions on how to deploy a multitier C# Winforms
app.

"Jeroen Mostert" <jm******@xs4al l.nlwrote in message
news:48******** *************** @news.xs4all.nl ...

Bill Fuller wrote:

>It appears that one of the latest hot buzzwords is SaaS (Software as a
Service). From what I can tell, this looks like nothing more than
rebranding of the old ASP model, which fell out of favor. Am I correct,
or is there really something new and interesting here?

Whatever there is, it's not C#. Or .NET, even. Try a more general ng. (I
don't know which ones specialize in buzzwords.)

--
J.
http://symbolsprose.blogspot.com

[Cowboy \(Gregory A. Beamer\)]

Software as a Service is a logical concept of breaking out your
"applicatio ns" into reusable parts. It is similar to n-tier development,
which was popular with traditional ASP, but we also use n-tiers with ASP.NET
applications, Silverlight applications, etc.

When you treat software as a service, you group like concerns and, if
necessary, add a service layer so they can be consumed outside of library
calls. WHen you think this way, you can have completely different types of
applications accessing the same bits, as you are thinking in terms of
delivering the goods for a particular requirement no matter who desires it.

There really is nothing new here.

But, it does go contrary to the way the typical developer operates, which is
from database to UI or UI to database, charting a path, not for reuse, but
from point A to point Z. If we are lucky, this developer will one day
refactor for reuse, but it is more likely he will build the same logic into
his next application rather than reuse bits. If he were thinking as the
output of the classes he was building as products, he can see how this
particular bit would service other applications or services.

Hope that is clear.

--
Gregory A. Beamer
MVP, MCP: +I, SE, SD, DBA

Subscribe to my blog
http://gregorybeamer.spaces.live.com/lists/feed.rss

or just read it:
http://gregorybeamer.spaces.live.com/

*************** *************** *************** ****
| Think outside the box!
|
*************** *************** *************** ****
"Bill Fuller" <so*****@nospam .comwrote in message
news:Om******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP06.phx.gbl...

It appears that one of the latest hot buzzwords is SaaS (Software as a
Service). From what I can tell, this looks like nothing more than
rebranding of the old ASP model, which fell out of favor. Am I correct, or
is there really something new and interesting here?

[Jeroen Mostert]

Bill Fuller wrote:

Actually, it came up in discussions on how to deploy a multitier C# Winforms
app.

Yes, I see how that makes it a C# question.

This group isn't a stickler for topicality and your question's already been
picked up, so no point in belaboring the obvious (and annoying), but still.

--
J.

[Bill Fuller]

Hmmmm... Interesting. We have designed our solution as a cluster of
specialized WCF modules in a 5-tier logical architecture based upon Rocky's
CSLA framework, so it sounds like we can hype the app using this new
marketing.

Thanks for your feedback. It was helpful.

"Cowboy (Gregory A. Beamer)" <No************ @comcast.netNoS pamMwrote in
message news:O2******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP03.phx.gbl...

Software as a Service is a logical concept of breaking out your
"applicatio ns" into reusable parts. It is similar to n-tier development,
which was popular with traditional ASP, but we also use n-tiers with
ASP.NET applications, Silverlight applications, etc.

When you treat software as a service, you group like concerns and, if
necessary, add a service layer so they can be consumed outside of library
calls. WHen you think this way, you can have completely different types of
applications accessing the same bits, as you are thinking in terms of
delivering the goods for a particular requirement no matter who desires
it.

There really is nothing new here.

But, it does go contrary to the way the typical developer operates, which
is from database to UI or UI to database, charting a path, not for reuse,
but from point A to point Z. If we are lucky, this developer will one day
refactor for reuse, but it is more likely he will build the same logic
into his next application rather than reuse bits. If he were thinking as
the output of the classes he was building as products, he can see how this
particular bit would service other applications or services.

Hope that is clear.

--
Gregory A. Beamer
MVP, MCP: +I, SE, SD, DBA

Subscribe to my blog
http://gregorybeamer.spaces.live.com/lists/feed.rss

or just read it:
http://gregorybeamer.spaces.live.com/

*************** *************** *************** ****
| Think outside the box! |
*************** *************** *************** ****
"Bill Fuller" <so*****@nospam .comwrote in message
news:Om******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP06.phx.gbl...

>It appears that one of the latest hot buzzwords is SaaS (Software as a
Service). From what I can tell, this looks like nothing more than
rebranding of the old ASP model, which fell out of favor. Am I correct,
or is there really something new and interesting here?

[=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Arne_Vajh=F8j?=]

Cowboy (Gregory A. Beamer) wrote:

Software as a Service is a logical concept of breaking out your
"applicatio ns" into reusable parts. It is similar to n-tier development,
which was popular with traditional ASP, but we also use n-tiers with ASP.NET
applications, Silverlight applications, etc.

When you treat software as a service, you group like concerns and, if
necessary, add a service layer so they can be consumed outside of library
calls. WHen you think this way, you can have completely different types of
applications accessing the same bits, as you are thinking in terms of
delivering the goods for a particular requirement no matter who desires it.

I think what you have described is SOA not SaaS.

Arne

[=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Arne_Vajh=F8j?=]

Bill Fuller wrote:

Hmmmm... Interesting. We have designed our solution as a cluster of
specialized WCF modules in a 5-tier logical architecture based upon Rocky's
CSLA framework, so it sounds like we can hype the app using this new
marketing.

No.

You may be able to market it as a SOA architecture.

But to make is SaaS you will need to deliver it to your customers
as a subscription service over the internet instead of selling
them software to run on their own systems.

Arne

[=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Arne_Vajh=F8j?=]

Bill Fuller wrote:

It appears that one of the latest hot buzzwords is SaaS (Software as a
Service). From what I can tell, this looks like nothing more than rebranding
of the old ASP model, which fell out of favor. Am I correct, or is there
really something new and interesting here?

Same.

Arne

[Bill Fuller]

Actually, it is a hybred. The primary business logic is built into
mobile/anchored business objects from the central application tier. WinForm
is primarly for UI robustness. Altough we provide this as a ClickOnce ERP
app, it is not a requirement and the service can, in principle, be accessed
via WCF for M2M processing, integrating iinto another app, etc.

"Arne Vajhøj" <ar**@vajhoej.d kwrote in message
news:48******** *************** @news.sunsite.d k...

Bill Fuller wrote:

>Hmmmm... Interesting. We have designed our solution as a cluster of
specialized WCF modules in a 5-tier logical architecture based upon
Rocky's CSLA framework, so it sounds like we can hype the app using this
new marketing.

No.

You may be able to market it as a SOA architecture.

But to make is SaaS you will need to deliver it to your customers
as a subscription service over the internet instead of selling
them software to run on their own systems.

Arne