[featherverse]

Yeah I would rather have a php based webapp that I can download and install on my own server, than any sort of SaaS thing. I hate SaaS, I think it's a kind of gamble, I am gambling that the people providing that service will be successful and operational until I quit using it.

But in the real world that isn't always the case.

However with a localized application that I can download, install, and run without any reliance on "the mothership", if the developers should go belly up (obviously nobody wants that), I can at least continue to use the software for a length of time while searching for a suitable replacement.

That's just one example. There's other things, such as data security, short term outages, and so on. In general SaaS has always been a terrible idea. It's good for corporations, but it sucks for users, and computing is about what's good for the users.