If I understand na85 correctly, they are suggesting that the terminal model of chrome books requires decent internet and thus increases the barrier to entry. I agree with you that Chromebooks lower the barrier to entry because hardware cost is too big of a factor (and many things still work offline).

And there are other barriers (I actually think the bandwidth problem is solvable, by caching large parts of the program). Before SaaS, a poor kid from Egypt could (although it's illegal) get a pirated copy of Photoshop, Office or Visual Studio and improve their skills with modest means. Now they need software subscriptions that they can't afford.

I can see two things happening: it increases the popularity of FLOSS software in such countries and/or companies will adjust the monthly subscription fee to be proportional to e.g. the median income.

Anyway, I think thinks can be said for both models. Regardless my worries about SaaS, I also like always having the latest version, not having to install and maintain programs, etc.

Do you not understand analogies or something?