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The cloud seemed like a panacea, but it wasn’t so in all cases. Over the years, some companies have realized that they have overestimated their needs and that access to this alternative, although attractive, is not in their best interest.

Back to the cloud. This means that for several years now we have been witnessing the ‘repatriation of the cloud’, meaning that companies are saying goodbye to the cloud. They are abandoning platforms like Azure or AWS and returning to dealing with computing resources more locally.

a special case. A few days ago, we told you that David Heinemeier Hansson, the creator of Hey and Basecamp, was one of those who advocated saying goodbye to the cloud. Among other things, this has saved them a fortune, but their company is determined to make this process easier for other companies.

One time. That’s what they’ve set out to do with ONCE (“once in English”), an initiative that tries to return some of the business software to the philosophy of the past – not to be confused with our ONCE. As Jason Fried, CEO of 37signals, explains when talking about this type of software:

“It used to be that you paid for it once, installed it, and ran it. Whether it was on someone’s computer or everyone’s server, it felt like it was yours. And it was. Most software today is a service. It’s not your property, you rent it.”

SaaS (Software as a Service) still makes sense for many products, but its dominance will weaken. Setup and management used to be extremely complex, but self-hosting technology is now simpler and has improved greatly. Additionally, IT departments are eager to go back to managing their own IT, tired of serving Big Tech’s cloud space.”

You buy the software forever, but install and manage it yourself. This is also what he proposes with ONCE, this company’s product family, which customers will purchase as software with a perpetual license and from then on, install and manage on their own. According to Fried, these solutions are “simple and straightforward; not full of over-the-top, entrepreneurial options.”

An example. The first product in this family is Campfire, a business chat system similar to Slack but simpler. For $299 you get the most important options: inviting users, creating rooms, mentions, direct messages, mobile version – and you’ll only have to pay once for the software. Its creators claim that installation is very simple (there is an eight-minute video explaining it) and that there will be free updates for 1.x versions. If a version 2 is released, theoretically it will be because there are significant improvements and you will have to pay again to be able to install this version and access these improvements.

Building your own “clouds” gets easier. Fried was right in his statement: self-hosting technologies are accessible, and having your own server (for example, a Virtual Private Server that you rent) and then preparing it to install any kind of service is almost a click away. at the click of a button.. Companies like DigitalOcean offer plans for a variety of needs and make it easy to create virtual private clouds (VPC). It is true that management must be done by someone familiar with this type of infrastructure, but the technical complexities have been significantly reduced.

However. Maintaining your own infrastructure may be easy in the beginning, but over time it can become difficult if needs increase and your platform is not ready to scale adequately. The same goes for areas such as cybersecurity: we must carefully manage resources and pay attention to component updates and their configuration to avoid possible vulnerabilities through which potential attackers could threaten our business. When you use AWS or Azure, you delegate that part (and pay good money for it) because you theoretically forget about all those problems.

This looks familiar to me. The model they propose at 37signals is the same model that has dominated the software industry for decades. The perfect example of this is Microsoft Office: you bought it, installed it on your machine and can use it forever, but after a certain period of time Microsoft released a new, improved version with features that might interest you. If you wanted these, you had to purchase the software again. If not, you can continue with your “old” version even after official support ends.

Uptrend? Others seem to be considering following suit with 37signals. JJ Velaz, president of delivery logistics company Kosmo, said: In a message on X How interesting this idea seemed to him. “I’ve been thinking for a while that people and companies are tired of paying monthly fees,” he said, “so I’m trying to think of how I can bring the ‘one-time fee’ to Kosmo.” He gave the example that inspired him:

“I got to that point today and I think it could be devastating. When we talked to a pretty big customer in Jakarta we found that the guy had a high volume business but his margins were very fair. He couldn’t even pay me 5 cents per order – a far cry from what I was charging. I was looking for an open source product.” and I was continuing to improve it.

From here, I see the only way to close this customer and many others is for them to pay a one-time fee, own the software, and manage it.”

Subscriptions are great until they renew. This trend makes clear that while the subscription model is great for some companies and users, it is not for others. These days, we celebrated, for example, Microsoft’s announcement of the upcoming release of Microsoft Office 2024 with a perpetual license as an alternative to Microsoft 365, allowing any user to choose the option that benefits him the most. What 37signals or JJ Velaz suggests is exactly the same, and it seems that combining both suggestions is definitely a winning strategy.

Image | Joan Gamell

in Xataka | Microsoft has been offering Office in the cloud on a subscription basis for years. Now you want to do the same with Windows