Things are connected. It could be just a lamp and the switch. Or it could be a radar network with command and control. Or it could be a distributed system with thousands of micro back ends. The back end is the part of the system that is not directly visible to the user. It is responsible for processing data, managing resources, and providing data and information to the UI. The back end is often built using a combination of programming languages, frameworks, and tools that work together to create a cohesive system.
As stuff are not in the same network necessarily, it is given internet access. Who owns the back end is a separate subject, but technically it is a central server that is responsible for processing requests and sending responses. The server can hold user accounts to process information for more than one user. The idea of deploying a central server to collect data and give access to the information is rooted in the fact that the server is not necessarily where it is going to be used. This is exactly why I pay for software being run on a remote server rather than maintaining it on my computer.
But what if I cannot run the software on my computer or I do not want to run it on someone else’s? What if I don’t want to give my data to a SaaS provider because their thing is not properly processing or presenting my information? The issue could be as simple as prioritizing my enemy in their system. Then I will be left to choose between accepting it or just not being a user. But this pushes me back in time one way or the other, especially if I have built dependencies on their thing.
Software is not a service because it cannot be! There is no employment relationship between the work and the one who performs it! Simply because the software is not a human or even like a pen or paper! Code doesn’t have a place, and I do not hire the software. Software is code! So SaaS is a contradictory term in service of propaganda. Rather than I employ it, it is employing me! I can modify and run software on a server as a specialist, and you can spend your time on another software which I need. So SaaS is neither a service nor software. It is propaganda that I have to pay for use. And to pay, I have to work on it, and to work on it, I have to use it! It is all about work on it and work on it! Pay interest, so to say!
The loop is reinforced by more users as propaganda, which acts as a barrier to exit too! Software can be anything except a service. What can be a service is running software on a remote server for multiple users. Or running software for many users. Software is not a service as it is copyable, modifiable by anyone now and in the future.
The way to break the propaganda loop is to use SaaS using a shield. A middleware over the SaaS which makes your native code that runs locally also portable to SaaS unchanged. This speeds up your native project while leveraging the SaaS without compormising your future.
You can even get interest from SaaS if you target its own market with a free license. They soon realize that it is even better to use your software instead!