[MichaelApproved]

I'm talking about buying a single brand of product. Not buying things that are compatible with that brand, buying specifically just that brand.

[TeMPOraL]

Again, unless that company has a great track record, you'll probably get screwed rather quickly. Google is not such company, for example. Also, any startup is out of the question too; half-life of VC-backed SaaSes is on the order of a year or two.

IMO buying any hardware tied to a SaaS is a dumb idea.