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The rant was interesting in it's time but I'm not sure how relevant it is in 2022. 11 years ago Google had a nascent cloud computing business and Amazon might h

by qqtt 4y ago

The rant was interesting in it's time but I'm not sure how relevant it is in 2022. 11 years ago Google had a nascent cloud computing business and Amazon might have been at a bit of a peak in terms of executing on it's dual track cloud/retail businesses. In the time since, consumer trust in Amazon has eroded massively, as China-based sellers turned Amazon into a more expensive Ali Express. Amazon has had some very public missteps in investments such as losing 10 billion a year on Alexa. Amazon's market dominance of the cloud has been eroded by Microsoft & Google. And even now, 10 years later, Amazon still can't seem to figure out how to make its retail business profitable without resorting to littering their web site with ads. Amazon recently set a record for losing over one trillion dollars in share holder value, while it's competitors like Microsoft and Google have weathered the economic storm better. Microsoft and Google have very promising trajectories for their cloud businesses while at the same time having a solid profitable cash cow in their core businesses. Alternatively, one gets the sense that if Amazon didn't stumble upon AWS as a business all those years ago, they might legitimately be in trouble as a business.

acdha 4y ago
> Amazon's market dominance of the cloud has been eroded by Microsoft & Google By Microsoft. GCP appears to be under intense pressure to become profitable and they’re lagging on features. I hear about migrations from GCP to AWS or Azure more than the reverse, and that was before the price increases.
- qqtt 4y ago
  There are rumors about what's going on internally regarding GCP, but by all accounts Google is still investing heavily in GCP and their current growth trajectory means profitability is almost inevitable. Azure & AWS have relatively stagnant growth and there are more and more signs that the growth of GCP is coming at potential market share from AWS/Azure. https://www.sdxcentral.com/articles/analysis/google-grabs-growth-share-from-amazon-microsoft/2022/10/ https://www.sdxcentral.com/articles/analysis/google-grabs-gr...
  - fbdab103 4y ago
    The way I am reading that link, AWS + Azure both increased revenue from last year (33% to 34% and 20% to 21%)? The article says GCP currently increased from 10%->11%. Which is not say anyone should stay content, but it looks like GCP still has a long road ahead.
  - acdha 4y ago
    I'm not saying it's a done deal but I think Yegge's rant holds up well. 10 years later, GCP has fallen behind Microsoft and is still a third of AWS' share. What would concern me more as a Google shareholder, however, is the relative feature set and progress — I use both professionally and GCP has been a real disappointment for how periodically running into basic functionality which is a checkbox on AWS but on GCP is a 2 year old issue in their tracker with no progress and a suggestion that you build/buy something and run it yourself. It's not like you can't use it successfully but it's hard to shake the feeling that one of these companies is a lot more committed than the other (which started having to cajole them to show up and sell their product). More succinctly, I’ve recently seen a number of AWS announcements for things which make my life easier and/or save money, some of which I am already using. The last news I got from GCP was that cloud storage prices are going up.
ClumsyPilot 4y ago
> Amazon recently set a record for losing over one trillion dollars in share holder value I think is this case Amazon was massively overvalued, the market had unrealistic expectations In the similar manner oil companies are overvalued - they seem to assume that every last drop of oil in discovered reserves can be burned, when in reality wars and social unrest will break out long before that.
makeitdouble 4y ago
> Amazon into a more expensive Ali Express Slightly beside the point, but for people who were already using Ali Express and wanting a faster, slightly smoother experience, this actually increased Amazon's value proposition many folds. On the credibility part of AWS because of Amazon's overall image, I think the split comes at wether the focus is on renown brands and traditional items (image goes way down), or on items that simply don't exist or are incredibly cumbersome to find through traditional retailers (Amazon appears on the map as a viable Ali alternative). I'm still playing the game of finding regular electric shavers that charge through usb-c only (no adapter, no charging stand). Traditional makers don't seem to give a damn about that segment and Ali / Amazon is the only game in town.

by qqtt 4y ago

acdha 4y ago

> Amazon's market dominance of the cloud has been eroded by Microsoft & Google By Microsoft. GCP appears to be under intense pressure to become profitable and they’re lagging on features. I hear about migrations from GCP to AWS or Azure more than the reverse, and that was before the price increases.

qqtt 4y ago
There are rumors about what's going on internally regarding GCP, but by all accounts Google is still investing heavily in GCP and their current growth trajectory means profitability is almost inevitable. Azure & AWS have relatively stagnant growth and there are more and more signs that the growth of GCP is coming at potential market share from AWS/Azure. https://www.sdxcentral.com/articles/analysis/google-grabs-growth-share-from-amazon-microsoft/2022/10/ https://www.sdxcentral.com/articles/analysis/google-grabs-gr...
- fbdab103 4y ago
  The way I am reading that link, AWS + Azure both increased revenue from last year (33% to 34% and 20% to 21%)? The article says GCP currently increased from 10%->11%. Which is not say anyone should stay content, but it looks like GCP still has a long road ahead.
- acdha 4y ago
  I'm not saying it's a done deal but I think Yegge's rant holds up well. 10 years later, GCP has fallen behind Microsoft and is still a third of AWS' share. What would concern me more as a Google shareholder, however, is the relative feature set and progress — I use both professionally and GCP has been a real disappointment for how periodically running into basic functionality which is a checkbox on AWS but on GCP is a 2 year old issue in their tracker with no progress and a suggestion that you build/buy something and run it yourself. It's not like you can't use it successfully but it's hard to shake the feeling that one of these companies is a lot more committed than the other (which started having to cajole them to show up and sell their product). More succinctly, I’ve recently seen a number of AWS announcements for things which make my life easier and/or save money, some of which I am already using. The last news I got from GCP was that cloud storage prices are going up.

ClumsyPilot 4y ago

> Amazon recently set a record for losing over one trillion dollars in share holder value I think is this case Amazon was massively overvalued, the market had unrealistic expectations In the similar manner oil companies are overvalued - they seem to assume that every last drop of oil in discovered reserves can be burned, when in reality wars and social unrest will break out long before that.

makeitdouble 4y ago

> Amazon into a more expensive Ali Express Slightly beside the point, but for people who were already using Ali Express and wanting a faster, slightly smoother experience, this actually increased Amazon's value proposition many folds. On the credibility part of AWS because of Amazon's overall image, I think the split comes at wether the focus is on renown brands and traditional items (image goes way down), or on items that simply don't exist or are incredibly cumbersome to find through traditional retailers (Amazon appears on the map as a viable Ali alternative). I'm still playing the game of finding regular electric shavers that charge through usb-c only (no adapter, no charging stand). Traditional makers don't seem to give a damn about that segment and Ali / Amazon is the only game in town.