[easyas124]

Unless you're self-hosting on the same computer you're using, a web app is, by definition, software as a service. But then, either you're just... running a program, or your self-hosted application lives somewhere else that still requires power and network connectivity.

I promise, everyone, it is very legal and very cool to just write applications that run without TCP roundtrips. I promise.

[filleduchaos]

"Unless you're self-hosting on the same computer you're using, a web app is, by definition, software as a service"

This sentence makes no sense to me. "Self-hosting" and "software as a service" are diametrically opposed things.

[freedomben]

> Unless you're self-hosting on the same computer you're using, a web app is, by definition, software as a service.

This seems extremely arbitrary and seems to assume some implicit definitions that are not common, and in fact are the opposite of what I've heard used.

IME software as a service generally speaking means somebody else is doing all the hosting and you as an end user just point your browser to it or in some cases install a local app (and often you put in your credit card and pay a monthly subscription). Self-hosting means you do all that hosting yourself. I've never seen something marketed as SaaS that expected you to host the server-side yourself, but I'd be happy to hear of an example.

> I promise, everyone, it is very legal and very cool to just write applications that run without TCP roundtrips. I promise.

That's a hell of a strawman against an argument I see nobody making.