Liam Eagle: LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

We started with software as a service in designing this issue, which might strike you as odd, or as such a small departure from the standard hosting conversation as to be hardly a departure at all. Hosts talking about SaaS? Nothing new there.

But what we took as our starting point was a belief that there has been a sort of fundamental shift in the SaaS thinking that surrounds the hosting business. Not a sudden shift, or even an explicitly identifiable one. It’s more like a notable stage in a long, slow process of evolution.

For several years there has been an effort among the developers of SaaS platforms to spread the message downstream. Companies like Microsoft, Parallels and others have worked to convince hosts that hosted applications ought to be part of their offerings – and by extension, that their customers ought to incorporate hosted applications into their businesses.

Elsewhere in this issue, I describe the SaaS question as having changed from “should I?” to “how should I?” That is, the hosts, software developers and their customers are on board, philosophically, with the hosted model of application distribution. And the evangelism of the platform builders has shifted to focus more directly on the promotion of their own products.

It is with that understanding that Wayne Epperson approached his SaaS Scoreboard feature, which seeks out the input of a long list of SaaS platform builders, trendsetters and decision makers to find the answers to questions like “what are the right ways to build a SaaS platform?” and “what applications are ready to put into production right now?”

One of the key platforms for the distribution of that SaaS message has been the handful of web hosting conferences that take place each year. And I expect them to be an interesting venue in which to follow the evolution of that message.

How fortunate, then, that HostingCon, the biggest of the hosting industry events, is right around the corner. Indeed, it is quite possible that you’re holding this magazine while at HostingCon, which is why we’ve taken some special effort to tie the issue’s content in with the event.

To begin, we have Esther Bauer’s feature on HostingCon, designed as a kind of primer to help you get the most out of attending the event.

And we’ve tried to tie content throughout the magazine in to the event by flagging people and companies, and making it clearer how you can locate them at HostingCon. I’ll give it a shot with myself right here:

As you can see, we’re sponsoring the networking lounge again at this year’s event. I, and most of the WHIR staff, will be in attendance. I think stopping by to say hi would be an excellent idea.