Annotation There is no doubt that the delivery of software has crossed a large chasm, and terms like SaaS (software as a service) and PaaS (platform as a service) have moved from the R&D world into the real world These changes pose new challenges to software users and providers alike They give rise to seeing payments as for a subscription rather than for a license, a new model of return on investment, and supporting and maintaining software during its active use, Nowadays, more software is executed on external clouds than on internal, on premise computers In parallel, we are seeing the fast development of the NUI (natural user interface), the first signs of it being the touch and motion sensitive user interfaces introduced by the iPhone and other smart phones Also called perceptual computing, NUIs include gesture sensing, eyeball tracking, and facial expression analysis We are seeing a move towards more natural ways of humans interacting with computers, making a machine human symbios
