by Merrill R. (Rick) Chapman, Softletter Managing Editor This has changed with SaaS. Take a look at the results from our 2012 SaaS survey below: How often do you release a "major update" of your SaaS product to your customers? (A "major update" is defined as including significant new features and functionality, not just incremental improvements and bug fixes)? Less than once a year 7% Once a year 15% Twice a year 16% Three or more times a year 21% We do not have a "timed" or set release schedule; we release new features as they are ready 27% Other, please specify (four respondents said "monthly") 5% Note that aggregated, 48% of SaaS companies are releasing major new versions of their product three or more times a year; 64% are releasing major upgrades twice a year. This frequency of release was never possible in desktop/retail and client server markets and has driven the rapid acceptance of Agile methods in SaaS, as we see below: Does your company implement "Agile" methodologies in its R&D? Yes 66% No 34% When we began this survey series five years ago, these numbers were almost exactly reversed. The reason for the rapid acceptance of Agile...