A lot of people been saying this lately, that LLMs are going to make SaaS obsolete because you will be able to build the alternative yourself without the need to pay.

But (and I'll copy & paste a comment I wrote a few days ago) I disagree. This existed way before LLM. Open source alternatives to most products are already available. And install them and deploy them is much easier than do it with LLMs, and you get updates, etc.

People don't want the responsability to keep them updated, secured, deployed, etc. Paying a small amount will always be more convenient than to maintain it yourself. The issue was never coding it.

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o_m 6 days ago | parent | next [-]

Counter argument: people want simple systems that are easy to update, secure, deploy etc. I've been burned so many times by being an early adopter of a simple product for it to add too many features and shifting focus along the way, leaving the early adopters as second class users. This usually happens because investors wants a return on their investment by enshittifying the product.

As self hosting with Docker and getting help from LLMs gets easier I can totally see a future where more companies self host. Having to deal with SaaS companies also takes a lot of time (licenses, hidden limits you can reach at any time, more complex privacy policy, approval from management), especially as they usually end up selling after a couple of years. The responsibility to self host isn't that bad all things considered.

I don't think we'll see companies vibe code the replacement of their software, but it might help them self host open source alternatives.

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cpursley 6 days ago | parent [-]

What percentage of companies do you think have the technical know how to even fire up their own cloud application and database instance even with all the LLM assistance in the world? Outside of companies in the software space and some of the largest orgs, I’m gonna guess maybe 20%?

	▲	zOneLetter 6 days ago \| parent [-]
		Don't forget the audits and compliance reports. No company with a C-suite with more than 3 brain cells combined will be going down that route. People forget that hobby-projects do not have the same legal and business requirements as ... enterprise projects.

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bryanrasmussen 6 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

hey yeah, there's no need to have a payment provider to take care of all your taxes being paid correctly and on time. We have AI!

This would be one of the greatest entertainment events of the 21st century! Shame about all the destruction that will happen as a consequence of course, but ...entertainment!

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actionfromafar 6 days ago | parent [-]

Whole governments run in that mode now.

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bryanrasmussen 6 days ago | parent [-]

Our Governments AI says we never paid our taxes, Our AI says it paid our taxes, our CEO says nobody should pay taxes, and our VC's AI says we're broke and a Unicorn at the same time.

	▲	javcasas 6 days ago \| parent [-]
		Yup, that should be recorded and shown in Netflix. Pure entertainment. Now put all these actors in the same room with a bomb, tell them to agree on the situation of the taxes or the bomb explodes, and you have one hell of a drama.

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tablet 6 days ago | parent | prev [-]

This is not what the article is about. Main idea is that rigid software can finally be replaced by flexible, since flexibility is no longer such expensive

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prmph 6 days ago | parent [-]

Nope, anyone saying this does not understand fundamentally what software is. This so-called malleable software is a recipe for chaos.

	▲	87553530896046 6 days ago \| parent [-]
		Not everyone can be as enlightened as gurus like you.