Applications, those behemoths that have choked on code, are giving way to apps, which are vehicles that serve specific functions. And what if we could buy the functions we want, not those we do not use, just as with music? Years ago, I mulled about the possibility of software with mix-and-match functionality: say I could get the best features of Microsoft Word with the spellchecker from WordPerfect and that great “st” command from XyWrite, the journalist favorite, which could store a file and open a new one with a clear screen in a single stroke. That was never in the cards. But the market has been moving towards a different application model. There was a lot of talk about application mash-ups a few years ago, but that seems to have died down. About the same time came the role-based packages—you only see what you need. Now we are going the rest of the way—you don’t buy what you don’t need. This could be emerging in the tax research market where the platforms from the two major players, CCH and Thomson Reuters, have always been giants. CCH says customers are buying individual apps as needed and while that still links to the platform, it shows a way that smaller customers could get into these products, which have been beyond the reach of most. If you don’t need all of the research tools, why buy them?