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A little too much aaS
January 17, 2008
It started with SaaS, which was ok. Kind of sassy, in fact. At least it had symmetry. But the IT business, in its endless pursuit of the new buzzphrase, has to work every verbal angle to death. So we couldn't stop with software-as-a-service. We had to have IaaS (infrastructure-as-a-service) and, thanks at least in part to yours truly, HaaS (hardware as a service) and MaaS (media-as-a-service or malware-as-a-service, depending on whom you believe) and DMaaS (data-mining-as-a-service) and OSaaS (operating-system-as-a-service) and VaaS (virtualization-as-a-service) and PaaS (platform-as-a-service) and FaaS (finance-as-a-service, or frameworks-as-a-service) and AaaS (architecture-as-a-service) and ... etc. (Google this stuff if you don't believe me.)
Today, Salesforce svengali Marc Benioff introduced development-as-a-service, or DaaS. The only problem is that we already have at least three DaaSes: desktops-as-a-service, database-as-a-service, and data-as-a-service. That's just too much. I mean, I like aaS as much as the next guy, but what we're talking about here is aaS overkill. It has to stop.
So count me out. I will no longer use aaS, in any configuration, on this blog. Join me, please, in this crusade. As Benioff might say, Death to aaS!
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Comments
I'm a little surprised we haven't had SIC or SITC (Software in the cloud) and so on. But Database in the cloud becomes DIC, and who wants to be that?
Posted by: tom s. ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.roughtype.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at January 17, 2008 08:55 PM
So. No more "aaS"-hat for Nick.
-t
(sorry, couldn't resist :-)
Posted by: Tom Lord at January 17, 2008 09:29 PM
While they are at it....they need to cut out the _____________Force as well.
Posted by: IsaacGarcia at January 17, 2008 09:53 PM
One more -aaS:
NaaS - "Nick as a service" ;)
Posted by: doknir at January 17, 2008 10:28 PM
OK, but let's spell it nazz.
Posted by: Nick Carr at January 17, 2008 10:35 PM
Aaz you like it! Nooooo...
Posted by: friarminor at January 18, 2008 12:02 AM
I registered http://www.itasaservice.com back in 2005 when I thought (as one sometimes does) that I had worked out one of those magic formulae... its a bit rusty but still, quite a useful checklist. If it hasn't got all them things, then it ain't a service.
Cheers, Jon
Posted by: Jon Collins at January 18, 2008 04:15 AM
Development as a Service? What the hell, it is a service in the first place.
Posted by: Sergey Schetinin at January 18, 2008 07:26 AM
I was in a meeting once where an avalanche of acronyms were being thrown around and eventually, someone asked what one of them actually meant.
It transpired that even though we were all using it, no-one actually knew what it really stood for...
Posted by: Simon at January 18, 2008 08:59 AM
I think you are being too mean to acronyms. I will report you to AAA (Acronym Abusers Anonymous). Some time ago I presented a product called TAMAN. It was a big hit. People asked...This Acronym Means Absolutely Nothing.
Posted by: bernard lunn at January 18, 2008 09:29 AM
From now on, just use NAMBLA, a là Jon Stewart.
Posted by: Shawn Petriw at January 18, 2008 01:44 PM
Nick, I'm afraid you are responsible for HaaS but then I'm guilty of the aaS disease myself (excessive use of framework as a service).
In the end I just joined the Scott Maxwell brigade, called everything XaaS (as in X as a Service) and became a one aaS kind of guy.
The point that there is a stack of XaaS from process to applications to hardware is still valid, and I find that some distinction between the layers is still useful.
However, for the time being it has got a bit out of control. Must be a hot topic.
Posted by: Simon Wardley at January 23, 2008 05:45 AM
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