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This is the second in our series of of four articles about “The Long Tail” and services (SaaS, On-Demand, etc.) and the Internet.

In the first article in this series, we asked the question, “Which of Joel York’s Top Ten Do’s and Don’ts of SaaS” relate to the concept of The Long Tail?” If you haven’t read Joel’s article I encourage you to do so because – in one way or other all the do’s and don’ts are related to the network effect described by The Long Tail.

SaaS and cloud-computing in general are the hot topic in technology now – and why not? They promise to lower costs and improve productivity during one of the worst downturns in memory. But, along with the promises to buyers, has come some products led primarily by “gold rush fever” and little else. What is different this time around? Most SaaS and cloud-computing products have a ‘try-before-you-buy” strategy or at least price points that allow individual business units, SMBs, and proof of concept tests with low to no implementation costs and no capital expenditure (CAPEX). It is a critical difference in this economy.

This is the first article in a four part series I’ve planned about “The Long Tail” and services (SaaS, On-Demand, etc) on the Internet.

If you have read anything at all about marketing for the web in the last few years, it is hard to imagine you might not have also heard the term, “The Long Tail.” The idea has a long history with statisticians, but the term we use dates back to 2004 when Chris Anderson wrote a magazine article in Wired describing the concepts. He also wrote a best selling book on concept, which has been recently updated. But, judging from many of the articles which use the term, I don’t blame you if you’re not sure what it is all about.

With so much uncertainty and emphasis on the economy at this time, it is no surprise that most of the “On-Demand” articles I’m seeing right now are about either the reaction of customers – SaaS adopters – or SaaS startups and vendors to the market. Jeff Kaplan wrote about it from an industry perspective this morning on Seeking Alpha.

Reviewing some of the latest SaaS products, and announcements of some “real soon now,” I’m struck by one constant theme: The first impulse of ISVs with existing, premise-based products is to clone those applications and “stick them in the cloud.” To me – this should be the first indication of possible failure. The web – [...]

It seems sometimes like being in technology means learning a new acronym every day. And to make matters worse, every marketing department is busy trying to think up the next “market-leading, self-defining, world-beating…” term to define their version of “the ultimate truth.”