Commercial Software on the Web

Possible Directions for Web-Based Commercial Software

• Scenario (A):
  • user sets up an account with the software developer
  • monthly charge or per-usage charge
  • all computations on server side (huge machine) or transfer of methods to client and computations on client side (smaller machine, less usage)
  
  
  
• Scenario (B):
  • download of commercial version from the Web with limited expiration date (perhaps "pushup" of commercial version, i.e., whenever new version becomes available, it will be made available to buyers)

Advantages of Commercial Software on the Web

• no local installation needed
• always the latest version (fastest possible update)
• fast update of Web-based documentation

Disadvantages of Commercial Software on the Web

• dependence on Web (accessibility)
• is the current version still working the same way as previous versions (access to previous versions needed)?
• liability, e.g., what if the software is inaccessible on the due date of a major project?
• in case of (B), what if the software is about to expire soon and the distributor is out of business, the network connection is down for several days, etc.?