无谓争论
A few weeks ago we wrote an article called The Downside of Free in which we talked about the potential downsides of offering a free version of your application. We concluded that in order to make money off free, you had to “find the sweet spot for the free version that offers just enough to keep people interested, but not enough that they’ll never upgrade.”
几周前，我们写了一篇名为《免费的缺点》的文章，其中谈到了提供免费版本的应用程序的潜在弊端。 我们得出的结论是，为了免费赚钱，您必须“找到免费版本的最佳位置，该版本足以使人们保持兴趣，但不足以使他们永远不会升级。”
However, there’s another potential downside to free that we neglected to talk about: the potential risk for customers in using free applications. As the economy continues to turn south, many companies are starting to eliminate non-revenue producing business units, which often means free products. If your business relies too heavily on a free product you might find yourself up a creek without a paddle if support for that product is pulled overnight
但是，我们忽视了免费提供的另一个潜在弊端：客户使用免费应用程序的潜在风险。 随着经济继续向南转变，许多公司开始消除无收入生产业务部门，这通常意味着免费产品。 如果您的企业过于依赖免费产品，那么如果一夜之间获得对该产品的支持，您可能会发现自己无所适从
A caveat here: this won’t apply to all free applications — many apps using the freemium model are successful and profitable.
需要注意的是：这并不适用于所有免费应用程序-许多使用免费增值模式的应用程序都是成功且有利可图的。
But we have started to see free apps begin to get the axe. When he was (presumably) unable to keep up with the cost of providing free services, Rafael Dornfest took a job at Twitter, and his apps Stikkit and I Want Sandy will close for good in a couple of weeks. Mostly free service Pownce was acquired and will shut down (it was a case of hiring by acquisition). Even Google has started to axe under performing free programs (such as Lively).
但是我们已经开始看到免费的应用程序开始受到关注。 当他(大概)无法跟上提供免费服务的成本时，拉斐尔·多恩菲斯特(Rafael Dornfest )在Twitter上工作了 ，他的应用程序Stikkit和I Want Sandy将在几周内永久关闭。 大部分免费服务Pownce 被收购并将关闭(这是通过收购雇用的情况)。 甚至Google都开始在执行免费程序(例如Lively )下砍伐斧头。
Many of the apps we called “must have” in our list of communication tools last month have a free option. Some of these companies are probably in a good position to weather the economic downturn, but perhaps not all of them. We won’t speculate on which are best positioned to survive, but maybe it isn’t a great idea to have too much riding on free, online services. What could save a buck or two now might cost a lot in the long term if the service disappears with all your data.
上个月，我们在通讯工具列表中称为“必须具备”的许多应用程序都有免费选项。 这些公司中的一些可能处于应对经济下滑的有利位置，但可能并非全部。 我们不会推测哪一个最适合生存，但是过多地依赖免费的在线服务可能不是一个好主意。 如果服务随您的所有数据一起消失，从长远来看，现在可以节省一两美元的事情可能会花费很多。
In a recent article at WebWorkerDaily, Mike Gunderloy laid out three rules to live by when evaluating software for your business. We think it’s pretty good advice, so we’ve reprinted them below.
在WebWorkerDaily的最近一篇文章中，Mike Gunderloy提出了在评估业务软件时要遵循的三个规则。 我们认为这是一个很好的建议，因此我们在下面重新打印了它们。
Prefer in-house servers for mission-critical applications.
对于任务关键型应用程序，首选内部服务器。
Prefer portable data.
首选可移植数据。
Prefer backed-up services.
首选备份服务。
“In the current software and economic environment, I’m re-evaluating my dependence on free services, and pulling some things back to less trendy but more reliable client-side applications,” says Gunderloy.
Gunderloy说：“在当前的软件和经济环境中，我正在重新评估对免费服务的依赖性，并将某些东西归还给不太流行但更可靠的客户端应用程序。”
We’re big fans of software as a service (SaaS) apps here at SitePoint, and use many on a daily basis, but Gunderloy’s concern could be extended to any SaaS application, free or paid. The more you rely on third parties to get your work done, the more difficult it becomes to stay afloat if those you rely on run into trouble. SaaS applications have allowed business owners to gain access to high quality software at lower prices and with a high level of convenience, but at what potential risk?
我们在SitePoint上是软件即服务(SaaS)应用程序的忠实拥护者，并且每天都在使用许多软件，但是Gunderloy的关注范围可以扩展到任何免费或付费的SaaS应用程序。 您越依赖第三方来完成工作，如果您依赖的第三方遇到麻烦，保持生存就越困难。 SaaS应用程序使企业所有者能够以较低的价格和高度的便利性访问高质量的软件，但是潜在的风险是什么？
If all your customer and sales lead information is in Salesforce.com, what happens if Salesforce.com goes under? That might create a mess that’s harder to clean up than if your CRM data was stored locally, for example. Using Google Docs might save you a bundle on site licenses for Office, but if all your internal documentation is online, what happens if Google decides Docs isn’t worth it and axes the product line? It’s something to consider, certainly.
如果您所有的客户和销售线索信息都在Salesforce.com中，那么如果Salesforce.com失败了怎么办？ 例如，这可能会导致混乱，比将您的CRM数据存储在本地更难清理。 使用Google文档可能会为您节省Office站点许可证的捆绑费用，但是如果您的所有内部文档都在线，那么如果Google认为文档不值得并且将产品线归类，该怎么办？ 当然，这是要考虑的事情。
What about you? Are you scaling back dependence on free software or software as a service apps? Are you putting more effort into setting up in house applications to manage your business rather than relying on third parties?
你呢？ 您是否正在减少对自由软件或软件即服务应用程序的依赖？ 您是否在建立内部应用程序方面投入更多精力来管理您的业务，而不是依赖第三方？
翻译自: https://www.sitepoint.com/the-argument-against-saas/
无谓争论
