Software as a service

Software as a service is the idea that clients access and use software using a thin client or a web browser. SaaS is also known as on-demand software, web-based software, or web-hosted software. The software itself is running on computers accessible through the Internet ("in the cloud"). Clients usually pay a fee to get access to the software. The benefit of this approach is that clients do not need to manage the software installation, and that they also do not need expensive hardware. Software providers do not need to use traditional methods of supply, such as distributors, to sell software to clients. One of the problems is that the data is also on the site of the company running the software - that is "in the cloud". Getting the data may be difficult, if the software vendor goes bankrupt. Richard Stallman of the Free Software Foundation considers SaaS as a violation of the principles of free software, because users have no access to the program that runs the software, and hence do not know what it does, and cannot change it.