The problem with big table/hbase is that it isn't just a hosted instance - you've made it mostly work with the same api, but it's not the same beast. That you h

The problem with big table/hbase is that it isn't just a hosted instance - you've made it mostly work with the same api, but it's not the same beast. That you have a modified version of the Java client and a page detailing a heap of differences is not a minor detail. Honestly this just sounda like Google m/o (aka embrace/extend/extinguish 2.0) at everything. Gmail sort of supports imap and smtp but in several ways it's broken, but users don't care that it's google's fault, they just want their free email. Big table is not hbase it's just sort of compatible, but developers dont care they just want to drink the cool aid. If Google really wanted to commit to anti-lock-in they would focus on runningc open source software that they use their infinite budget to tune to absolute best performance, combined with contributions back to those projects, to improve them where tuning alone isn't enough.