Software as a service (SaaS) entered the IT landscape in 2000 and has revolutionized the deployment models of many software companies and even entire industries, such as Internet search. It has also becoming an increasingly popular form of consuming applications within enterprises of all shapes, sizes and geographies.

Funambol’s move to adopt the new GNU Affero GPLv3 (AGPLv3) has some interesting implications for the mobile open source software player. It will be even more interesting, though, to see whether other open source SaaS players follow Funambol’s lead. What will be the impacts of closing open source software’s loopholes?

The methodologies of Open Source are not owned or guided by any one person. The closest thing we have are the Open Source Initiative (OSI) and support of the Free Software Foundation (FSF). The OSI certifies what qualifies as an open source license.

Open-Xchange claims 2009 was a banner year; more than 15 million people worldwide are running the open source email system, an 80 percent increase from 2008. The company's secret to success involves SaaS (software as a service) partners. Here's why. "

What does Software as a Service (SaaS) have to do with Open Source? Not much, you might think. Or maybe you've noticed that the FSF extended the spanking new GPL3 to the Affero Licence--to deal with SaaS providers? It does not help Open Source Software makers to make more money, so who cares? Well, OSS makers should care, as SaaS may finally give them a business model that may finally bring them some money.

Open Source came before, if not provided a platform for, Software as a Service. Open Source Licenses have a big loophole for the most common method of software distribution today...

We all know we can use open source software without paying, but the real question is: what compels people to buy free stuff? Most widely used free and open source software can also be purchased. We are not speaking of alternative commercial licensing, in this context. We are talking about purchasing support contracts and add-ons for open source software.

Yes, Microsoft is finally polishing its Software as a Service (SaaS) strategy. In addition to playing catch-up against entrenched SaaS companies like Salesforce.com, Microsoft must also deal with a growing number of open source providers — from SugarCRM to MySQL and Sun — that have jumped on the SaaS bandwagon.

"...When we launched Squish Software, we had goals of “open software.” We realized that openly supporting free and open source software, while not contributing back with our own software, was sort of hypocritical. So today we’re very excited to announce that we’re beginning to phase out ‘open software,’ and phase in true free software.