With the sudden and ubiquitous emergence of PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service), I thought I’d investigate several other "aaSes" as I always thought PaaS was something VC’s did.

• BaaS: This is a fish.
• CaaS: Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services (or the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society)
• DaaS: Dogs-as-a-Service.  Also known as Dogster.
• EaaS: Elephants-as-a-Service.  Also known as The Nature Channel.
• FaaS: How I generally drive my SL 55.
• GaaS: New pricing model.  Unlimited supply for $4 / hour.
• HaaS: Hardware-as-a-Service.  This what Amazon really sells.
• IaaS: Infrastructure-as-a-Service.  It’s in Wikipedia, so it must be true.
• JaaS: Java Authentication and Authorization Service.
• KaaS: The fat singer in the Mamas &the Papas.
• LaaS: A Mango flavored Indian drink; Local Area Augmentation Service.
• MaaS: Catholics-as-a-Service.  This is also Evangelicals 2.0.
• NaaS: Birds-as-a-Service (Northern Arizona Audubon Society).
• OaaS: Porn 2.0 – use your imagination or try xtube if you don’t know what I’m talking about.
• QaaS: A little known country in the UAE.
• RaaS: 17 different things – mostly systems of some sort.
• TaaS: The guys and gals that write the stories for the official news agency of Russia.
• UaaS: This domain for sale for $4675.  Invent your own aaS.
• VaaS: Warnakulasuriya Patabendige Ushantha Joseph Chaminda Vaas.
• WaaS: Weekend-as-a-Service.  This is what keeps me sane.
• XaaS: X-as-a-Service.  Coined by Scott Maxwell of OpenView in 2006.
• YaaS: What Yahoo is going to be called after the Microsoft acquisition (or maybe they will be "Yahoo Cloud Computing SP74").
• ZaaS: The giant tree that eats dust mites containing planets in Dr. Seuss books.

It all started with SaaS which those of us in the know refer to as ASP 2.0.  My heart beats quickly for the days of "hosting", "ASPs", and "On Demand."  Shoot – I even miss eSomething.  Fortunately, Cloud Computing will enable lots of TLA’s for us to enjoy.