Gates Sounds Off On Software As A Service

"Software as a service is a very important trend and something we believe in a lot,” Gates told a few thousand Microsoft Business Solutions customers and partners at the Dallas event. “Software as a service is a change of relationship between us and our customers."

In fact, that’s what many solution providers and vendors worry about. They see SaaS as a trend that could upset the balance of power in account control.

Gates reiterated that the world will need on-premise and hosted software, and Microsoft aims to play a big role in both camps. "Our software will be available on both a server and service basis," he said.