I’ve spent my career watching the “engines” of business change. Starting as a business reporter in the early 1980s, I spent my days documenting the rise of the giants: IBM, ICL, Hitachi and Nixdorf. I watched the transition from massive mainframes to the first wave of “portables” like the Osborne, Apple and eventually the birth of the IBM PC.
In those days, if you wanted to work in computing, you had to learn a whole new language. I remember being tempted to take the Van Zyl & Pritchard coding course—the “gold standard” that launched so many young South Africans into the programming world. But as a reporter, my job was to watch the utility of the software.
We moved from basic word processors to spreadsheets, and I remember the massive buzz around DataEase 4.0. It was a breakthrough because it promised to make data management “easy,” yet it still required a certain level of technical “under-the-hood” knowledge.
Fast forward 45 years, and I’ve just experienced a moment that left me completely stunned.
The “Stunned” Moment: When the Computer Became an Agent
Recently, I had a handwritten slip of paper for a doctor’s appointment. Instead of manually opening a calendar, typing in the details, and setting a reminder—the “DataEase” way of doing things—I simply took a photograph of the slip and showed it to Gemini.
I didn’t give it a manual. I didn’t write a line of code. Gemini “read” the handwriting, understood the context, and automatically populated my Google Calendar.
This is what we call an Action Agent. It doesn’t just show you information; it does things for you.
The “SaaSpocalypse” and the New Simplicity
You might have heard the term “SaaSpocalypse” recently—a $285 billion panic being discussed by Alec Hogg’s team at BizNews and in the Decoding Discontinuity circles. It sounds like a disaster, but for the average person, it’s actually a liberation.
For decades, “Software as a Service” (SaaS) meant we had to subscribe to dozens of different apps. We had to learn how to navigate each one’s unique menus and buttons. We were the operators of the machine.
The “SaaSpocalypse” is happening because the need to learn software is dying.
Why You Don’t Need to Be a Mechanic
Think of it like driving a car. In the early days, you had to be a mechanic just to get the engine started. Today, you just get in and drive. You don’t need to know how the fuel injection works to get to the shops.
We are entering that “driving” era for computers:
• The Mainframe Era: You needed a team of experts in white lab coats.
• The PC/DataEase Era: You needed to be a “power user” who knew which buttons to click.
• The Agent Era: You just need to show the computer what you want, and it does it.
The Bottom Line
Whether you’re a business owner or a casual user, the message is simple: Don’t worry about what’s under the hood. We are moving away from an era where we had to “use software” and into an era where we simply “give instructions.”
After 45 years of reporting on this industry, I can tell you: the magic isn’t in the code anymore. The magic is in the fact that the code finally understands us.
https://www.decodingdiscontinuity.com/p/285-billion-saaspocalypse-wrong-panic
