This is the exact same argument for the dozens of hosting and even some "cloud" providers (which is really just rebranded hosting) that are quite capable of a)

This is the exact same argument for the dozens of hosting and even some "cloud" providers (which is really just rebranded hosting) that are quite capable of a) charging you the fair market price for what they're selling, and b) offering it with simple, unambiguous pricing structures. Even Google's Cloud (which I don't use and don't promote) has managed to integrate long-term use discounts into their pricing structure so that you don't have to engage in craziness like this. And FWIW, I would much rather deal with the complexities of a datacenter than specialize in the equal or greater complexities required to manage proprietary, black-hole solutions like this that serve to lock you in by forcing you to specialize in something that is not translatable to other service providers.