This reduces the need to do "sales" as much - attractive for techie entrepreneurs.
"Free" is easier to implement for SaaS, but you can still do it for products, with a demo. The problem here is that the a time-limited or cripple-ware demo won't become as entrenched in the user's workplace as a SaaS version that is limited by the amount of use, or by the number of users etc. That is, a limit that allows the user to get some real value from you, ongoing, for free.
Actually, now that I think about it, of course you can limit a product in the same way as a SaaS version. Some limits are easy to enforce (e.g. number of contacts in a database), and for some you need to add management code or architecture (e.g. to monitor how often it is used). More code is always more complexity, and harder to test because it's interacting with the outside. But you can always just say what the limits are: communicate it clearly your website, in the license/contract, and in the product. Most people like to play by the rules, if they know what they are.
EDIT Although, I guess, if the software is entrenched, and it's a hassle to buy it, and it's still working... many businesses might find it hard to make the purchase. But the enterprise tends to be very organized about that kind of thing. ah... it's probably best to enforce the limits, if you possibly can.
This reduces the need to do "sales" as much - attractive for techie entrepreneurs.
"Free" is easier to implement for SaaS, but you can still do it for products, with a demo. The problem here is that the a time-limited or cripple-ware demo won't become as entrenched in the user's workplace as a SaaS version that is limited by the amount of use, or by the number of users etc. That is, a limit that allows the user to get some real value from you, ongoing, for free.
Actually, now that I think about it, of course you can limit a product in the same way as a SaaS version. Some limits are easy to enforce (e.g. number of contacts in a database), and for some you need to add management code or architecture (e.g. to monitor how often it is used). More code is always more complexity, and harder to test because it's interacting with the outside. But you can always just say what the limits are: communicate it clearly your website, in the license/contract, and in the product. Most people like to play by the rules, if they know what they are.
EDIT Although, I guess, if the software is entrenched, and it's a hassle to buy it, and it's still working... many businesses might find it hard to make the purchase. But the enterprise tends to be very organized about that kind of thing. ah... it's probably best to enforce the limits, if you possibly can.