Software-Plus-Service: Best or Worst of Both Worlds?

by Curt Hall

I've been thinking about the software-plus-service model, where a vendor offers online (hosted) software components that integrate with the vendor's software installed onsite at the end-user organization (i.e., the customer). Microsoft is pushing this approach in response to on-demand offerings from Google and other providers. More recently, SAP AG has jumped on the software-plus-service bandwagon as it has backed off its on-demand-only efforts. In some ways, this "hybrid" model makes sense. In other ways, it seems like it could be the worst of both worlds.

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Software-Plus-Service: Best or Worst of Both Worlds?21 May 2008