> That's preferable for the customer

I wouldn't say it's preferable for the customer. It's just one of many options.

> but it's obvious why a vendor wouldn't be keen

Yes, SaaS obviously has benefits for vendors too but what's most preferable to them is making money. If every customer refused to do business with SaaS then vendors wouldn't prefer providing SaaS solutions (yes, I know I said "solutions solutions" :P). The reason SaaS is so prolific is because it offers advantages to customers as well.

>>yes, I know I said "solutions solutions" :P

When has SaaS stood for anything besides Software as a Service? Because software as a solution could describe almost any business model?

Yeah you're right. And weirdly I did know that so I haven't a clue why I wrote that comment. I can only assume it was a multitasking fail. Thanks for the correction though :)