Amazon is Terrifying
As the incumbent in Cloud, Amazon seems unbeatable.
For all their bluster about disrupting decades old industries, the industry that tech disrupts the most is itself. In the last 3 decades it has become typical to watch companies rise, fall, and some times even rise again long after marked for dead.
Once a company holds an incumbent position long enough in tech, as Amazon has held their position in Cloud for nearly a decade, there’s an expectation, even sometimes an assumption, that their days are numbered. It’s only a matter of time before an upstart disrupts their position.
In many ways, Amazon exhibits traditional incumbent behavior. They often have the most complicated APIs and offerings among their competitors. Their dashboard looks like a Java Applet from 2000 re-written for “Ajax” in 2006. Their pricing model for storage requires a dual engineering and accounting degree to estimate. At first glance they seem ripe for disruption, resting on their laurels as the market leader.
And yet, their competitors make only meager gains with only Azure showing the kind of growth that might challenge their position.
I believe this is due to two factors unique to Amazon and the current software developer ecosystem.
The Open Source Ecosystem is too evolved.
