Re:FedEx to close data centers, retire mainframes
by usrusr on Tuesday July 05, 2022 @06:57AM
(#31986685)
But that's only really a change when you come from commodity hardware. For those still on mainframes, what's the difference? Technically the hardware might be charged per replacement cycle instead of monthly, but vendors are just as empowered to demand whatever they want. It's certainly hard to avoid lock-in running stuff on a cloud provider, but I suspect that it is even harder when depending on ye olde mainframe.
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Re:FedEx to close data centers, retire mainframes
by yarky on Tuesday July 05, 2022 @08:18AM
(#31987300)
I agree, isn't it way easier to switch vendors when running on the cloud? I'd say that encourages competition, since we can literally move the infrastructure using keystrokes instead of muscles.
This makes me think computer infra could potentially become a commodity.
Re:FedEx to close data centers, retire mainframes
by bad416f1f5a2 on Tuesday July 05, 2022 @08:43AM
(#31987530)
As always, it depends on how you use it.
Most cloud providers do let you run your own software on a managed substrate of infrastructure. But they also let you, nay, encourage you to build on top of their abstractions instead.
Re:FedEx to close data centers, retire mainframes
by usrusr on Tuesday July 05, 2022 @10:14AM
(#31988422)
I guess you can waste a lot of effort and money on meticulously substituting "batteries included" lock-in features of your cloud provider when the easy path would in fact have been much cheaper (substitute when needed, not prematurely), just as much as you can fall victim to lock-in traps that would have been super cheap and easy to avoid. I imagine that telling one from the other is a form of art in its own right.