Due to recent layoffs, I start to think about what would I want to do if I get hit. I'm thinking in the line of data systems.

I always want to have something that myself want to use, and right now it is my distrust to SAAS products. So my proposal is: You run your SAAS product, but the customer owns the data, fully.

What does that mean? It means users will have their own storage, and services will have permissions to access those storage, likely within their own namespace or something. Users take full control of their data, and they can decide at any moment they don't want certain system to access certain data anymore.

Realistically speaking, a user would need to have their own object storage and kv store, and maybe later a SQL database, and maybe, a graph database. But my guess is that, a user's data is actually not that much. That, and some proper backups will give me a peace of mind, not to worry about some random service will just delete my data, any data.

Does that mean everyone need to have their own server? Maybe yes, maybe no. Maybe the storage should be something that everyone owns, like your phone. Oh, maybe your phone can be that server. But people should be given that choice.

In such a world, buying an ebook means you have it in your storage. No one can delete it for you. And if they do, don't call it a "buy".