I feel that the *aaS model is obsolete. I don't think it was ever particularly good in the first place, but it was convenient, and of course, quite profitable for the providers.

But it has security problems, privacy problems, and leaves users out of control of the platform they are using. And in many cases it's an excuse to charge a subscription fee for something where a one-time charge will do. Service-oriented infrastructure is a distinctly consumer-unfriendly way to operate.

In an age of poor Internet speeds and insufficient PC processing power, the 'cloud' may have briefly made sense. But I think we're well past the point where it does, and consumers should have better options.

The great part about Sandstorm (to me), is that people happy to have cloud hosting services, can, and people who want to self-host, can, and both can use the same apps and software without a problem. Companies that want to pay for a managed hosting service can, and companies that want (or need) everything on premises can, and they can both use the same apps and software.