Earlier this month, Google and Salesforce.com announced a partnership to embed Google Apps into their CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software. The next thing you know the media is having a feeding frenzy about SaaS (Software as a Service). Then it struck me. That’s what PC Pitstop is all about. We are SaaS and here’s why.
Announcing Craplet detection for Optimize 2.0
I am very proud to announce a new feature for Optimize 2.0 customers – craplets. Optimize now detects and removes hundreds of those useless programs that sit on your task bar eating up memory and CPU cycles. But that’s not the news. The news is that Optimize 2.0 is SaaS.
Speed to market. We launched Optimize 2.0 in December 2007, and 4 months later we are adding a new feature. That is the beauty of SaaS. It is an inherently better development model that allows us to develop more quality code in a shorter period of time. A good analogy is Google Apps. Currently, there is a rather large feature gap between Google Apps and Microsoft Office. But that gap is quickly closing. Microsoft comes out with a new version of Office every 4 years. In the mean time, Google is improving Google Docs every month. Saas is just a better way to develop software.
No cost upgrades. What is the cost to Optimize 2.0 customers for craplets? NOTHING. NADA. RIEN. What must an Optimize 2.0 customer do to get the new craplets feature? NOTHING. NADA. RIEN. Because of the SaaS architecture, rolling out the new feature is seamless with minimal cost. Imagine what it takes for Microsoft to roll out a new version of Office? First, they have to stamp out a gazillion CDs. But it gets better because the CDs need to install on top of at least 10 different flavors of Office. And then, they have to figure out a way to inform all of their Office users about the upgrade. Since they spent so much money, they need to charge money for the upgrade. SaaS is beautiful in its simplicity.
Fluid. SaaS by its very nature is database driven. In Optimize’s case, all of the new craplets are stored on a centralized database on our servers. So let’s say, we discover a new craplet next month. It is truly as simple as adding a new record to a database, and all customers of Optimize 2.0 can detect and clean the new craplet. SaaS allows us to keep Optimize 2.0 current at a minimal cost to us and our customers.
PC Pitstop OverDrive Comes Out of Beta
Here’s a second huge announcment and guess what? OverDrive is SaaS. In fact, our world renowned Full Tests have ALWAYS been SaaS. Database driven, zero cost upgrades, and quick to market. I am proud to say that OverDrive has no peer on the web. But since OverDrive is also SaaS, you can expect to see many many new features in OverDrive each and every newsletter. I hope you are as excited as I am.
The Road Ahead
So what is the road ahead? SaaS of course. I truly believe that SaaS is the future. It is the best platform to develop superior software faster and at a lower cost. The road ahead is very exciting indeed.
