What is a Service?
"Cloud services are infrastructure, platforms, or software that are hosted and made available to users through the internet."
"Anytime, anywhere access. Today’s workforce is mobile, and much of it is remote, so cloud services need to make data and applications available no matter what. Cloud services mean employees can work from anywhere and from any device, including mobile phones and tablets."
With a simple online connection, users can access applications and services without having to house a lot of physical hardware or install software on their devices. "
"All infrastructure, platforms, software, or technologies that users access through the internet without requiring additional software downloads can be considered cloud computing services"
"Cloud services facilitate the flow of user data from front-end clients (e.g., users’ servers, tablets, desktops, laptops—anything on the users’ ends), through the internet, to the provider’s systems, and back. Cloud services promote the building of cloud-native applications and the flexibility of working in the cloud. Users can access cloud services with nothing more than a computer, operating system, and internet connectivity."
Services will often have their own interface, especially within a browser. This can also include an interface intended for administrators to manage settings and users.
Business Model
Free freemuim, subscription, usage based
Funding, advertising, selling consumer data
These remove the control of software from users and make them subscription based.
You can't own a CD with the service available for install.
There is only one version of the app, hosted by the service provider.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_a_service
As a service business model, subscription based instead of something owned
Service extension
Many services offer apis
Even extension apps only interact with the current version through API.
Some cloud services offer platform-specific applications that can provide a more streamlined and integrated experience for their service. Such as OwnCloud on desktop allowing cloud file browsing right from the file manager.
Within web based services, this often means features that can be accessed by creating a user account. For some services, there are a single user, whereas others low for true multiuser environment.
Infrastructure
Some may need to be configured through files, but many work with gui configuration.
In relation to SaaS
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_as_a_service
reverse proxy.
Integration with Authelia, SSO
Docker vs service vs port
Types of service models
Server client vs peer to peer
Federation
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_(computing)