One thing that initially scared me about using silverorange intranet is that it is a subscription, not a one-time purchase. A few months ago, I would not have even considered using software on subscription basis. But my thinking changed when I was thinking of services I could offer over the internet to take advantage of the current ridiculously low prices for bandwidth, rack space, and computer hardware. Charging a monthly fee for a hosted “solution” began making much sense.

As a programmer:

• Constant money in
• Much, much easier to support a product running on your own servers.
• Much easier to do continuous development, and to be in tune to your customers

As a customer:

• Someone else is responsible for making sure the dang thing is working
• Always using the latest version
• Bugs get fixed much faster.

The biggest risk though, is if the company with the solution will to stay in business.