Corey QuinnDec 12, 2023

It's once again the most wonderful time of the year: the newly-renamed Gartner Magic Quadrant for Strategic Cloud Platform Services!

This year there are no visionaries or challengers, just "cloud" vs. "you pretend to be a cloud." Let's explore together!

Show threadCorey QuinnDec 12, 2023

We're going to ignore the "niche players" because for three of them I don't speak Mandarin, and for IBM I don't speak ancient Greek.

That leaves AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and Oracle Cloud.

Show threadCorey QuinnDec 12, 2023

First up is AWS due to its undisputed alphabetical supremacy.

Strengths include its "everything but the kitchen sink" approach, its innovation in hardware design, and its large feeding ground--I mean, partner ecosystem.

Show threadCorey QuinnDec 12, 2023

The cautions aren't exactly what I'd pick. "Lack of tools and guidance for multicloud?" Buddy, I'd pay handsomely for tools and guidance for integrating multiple AWS services together cleanly.

Lift and shift is half of every keynote.

And "competes with partners" feels tired.

Show threadCorey QuinnDec 12, 2023

Next up is Google Cloud! Strengths include

* a design elegance you can only achieve if you take the bold step of not firing people for talking to other teams

* splattering AI everywhere--wait, what? That's only in press releases!

* Sustainability. Their tool is the best.

Show threadCorey QuinnDec 12, 2023

Google Cloud cautions include:

* if this thread were a Google Cloud product I'd get bored about now and wander off to do something else

* like many in our generation, they're terrified of phone calls

* lack of integration with other, more easily killed Google products

Show threadCorey QuinnDec 12, 2023

Now it's Azure's turn! Strengths:

* ARC is awesome. I've heard that before from customers.

* Their DevEx is off the charts, primarily due to extremely low bars set by competitors.

* They know how to partner without getting bored or eating their counterparty.

Show threadCorey QuinnDec 12, 2023

Azure cautions include:

* it catches fire a lot due to neighborhood kids sneaking into the data centers through all of the doors that were left propped open

* lock-in because they dare to make things that work well together

* becoming a partner is like getting ordained online

Show threadCorey QuinnDec 12, 2023

Next up is Oracle Cloud!

Strengths include:

* killing it on their "deploy onsite at customers" story

* nailing multicloud integration because they weren't kidding anybody except themselves that they were anyone's sole cloud

* pace of innovation is what AWS's used to be

Show threadCorey QuinnDec 12, 2023

Weaknesses include:

* what the shit? "not going hard enough into GenAI" is the worst thing about Oracle?! You're in a target rich environment and shot your own foot!

* resilience issues because single-DC design

* some salespeople still kidnap pets out of habit

Show threadCorey Quinn
All in all, Microsoft has the more complete vision, whereas AWS outperforms on its ability to execute. I will now take questions from you all about what we've just seen.
Dec 12, 2023 at 11:36pmWeb
Show threadCorey QuinnDec 12, 2023
"Why wasn't X cloud included?" is a common refrain. The list of inclusion criteria is lengthy, contains some bullshit, and also mandates a multi-continent scale that blows a bunch of up-and-comers out of contention.
Show threadCorey QuinnDec 12, 2023

In all I don't think there were too many surprises here for us this year; the market has more or less reached some semblance of maturity.

I think it's way too soon for responsible providers to be going all-in on Gen AI, and judging them for it will lead to tears for us all.

Show threadCorey QuinnDec 12, 2023

I think there have been some changes over the past year.

AWS will smile when I say that companies no longer dread them entering their space. They will stop smiling when I say that's because things like "DocumentDB" are the best sales pitch for MongoDB the world has ever seen.

Show threadCorey QuinnDec 12, 2023
Next year I want @Gartner_inc to ding companies for every service (particularly GenAI) that has been *announced* but is not yet *available* for general customer use. That'll fix an awful lot--or make it disastrously worse, depending on whether the adults are in charge.
Show threadCorey QuinnDec 12, 2023

"What AWS cautions would I pick?"

The big one is that they've lost sight of the fact that *AWS* is the product, not the hundreds of discrete services.

That's the elephant in the room. I'll be talking about it more in the new year.

Show threadCorey QuinnDec 13, 2023

In response to "is just saying things about GenAI a 'strategy'?":

GenAI is the only space at the moment in which content writers can, with a simple blog post, begin LARPing as product owners.

Show threadAdrian CockcroftDec 13, 2023
@Quinnypig I think AWS did the best they could in the time they had on GenAI. The alternative of not going for it would have been worse. They often are late entrants to a space but somehow end up with most of the revenue.
Show threadCorey QuinnDec 13, 2023
@adrianco It’s really a hell of a choice: “do you want to be perceived as late, or bad at it?” There’s no right answer.
Show threadAdrian CockcroftDec 13, 2023
@Quinnypig They always pick the latter. Getting a product out there and sensing customer needs even if it’s way off to start with.
Show threadJayFDec 12, 2023
@Quinnypig I'm curious, and a little afraid, what the green flags/cautions would be for on-prem OpenStack. (I'm slightly scared this is asking Sauron to look at me)
Show threadCorey QuinnDec 13, 2023
@jay With the exception of telco, it feels very much like you'd be the only person eating at a restaurant in a crowded part of town during the dinner rush. "What does everyone else know that I don't?"
Show threadJayFDec 13, 2023
@Quinnypig yeah but that's just because we've got so many people eating giant banquets in private back rooms 😂😂😭😭😭
Show threadjnbhlrDec 13, 2023
@Quinnypig @jay https://world.hey.com/dhh/why-we-re-leaving-the-cloud-654b47e0 there are quite a few reports like this that there is a counterpart to "early adopters" like "early leavers" that are moving back to self hosted and are saving big £$¥₩ by doing so.
Why we're leaving the cloud

Basecamp has had one foot in the cloud for well over a decade, and HEY has been running there exclusively since it was launched two years ago. We've run extensively in both Amazon's cloud and Google's cloud. We've run on bare virtual machines, we've run on Kubernetes. We've seen all the cloud has to offer, and tried most of it. It's fi...

Show threadEddie DinelDec 13, 2023
@Quinnypig also the issue we’ve discussed — it’s too important to the global IT economy and that introduces risk. (cf US-East-1 goes down; hospitals are offline)
Show threadCorey QuinnDec 13, 2023

@edinel While I agree, I'm hard pressed to see that being taken as a reason NOT to choose them by any enterprise.

"Oh no, they're far too big to fail! I should look elsewhere for my needs!”

It's like claiming your biggest weakness is “I work too hard and care too much" during a job interview. Not a real weakness…

Show threadEddie DinelDec 13, 2023
@Quinnypig fair cop. I’m more commenting on the social problem we are all unable to deal with.
Show threadCorey QuinnDec 13, 2023
@edinel That would be a sad, sad quadrant indeed.
Show threadEddie DinelDec 13, 2023
@Quinnypig “leaders”
Show threadMichael KohneDec 13, 2023
@edinel @Quinnypig The fact that this is true is a massive indictment of the way we let hospitals run. I'm in the industry, and I see a bit of how hospital IT works. I think that anyone who puts anything a hospital uses day-to-day in the cloud should probably be hauled off to jail for reckless endangerment of patients. You can't do everything on site, but a backhoe through your fiber shouldn't put patients at risk. (sorry, this is an OLD rant from me)
Show threadEddie DinelDec 13, 2023
@mhkohne @Quinnypig I don’t disagree in the slightest. I merely am observing what happened when US-East-1 went down a few years ago.
Show threadsuldrew 🚲🏳️‍🌈Dec 13, 2023
@Quinnypig would you say that applies to all the providers?
Show threadCorey QuinnDec 13, 2023
@suldrew Not nearly to the same degree.
Show threadCloudPundit (Lydia Leong)Dec 13, 2023
@Quinnypig In the Solution Comparison, I say, "Its service teams effectively act like competing startups that occupy the same building and sometimes collaborate -- but with little evidence of centralized planning, a coherent platform roadmap, or a unified approach to UX design." (I go into this in quite a lot of additional detail in Gartner's Vendor Rating of Amazon.)
Show threadEatonDec 13, 2023
@Quinnypig announced but nonexistent services count as “Strategy" right
Show threadCloudPundit (Lydia Leong)Dec 13, 2023
@Quinnypig Good MQ evaluators should already. Plans count towards higher Vision. Failure to deliver on plans is penalized with lower Execution the next year.
Show threadCorey QuinnDec 13, 2023
@cloudpundit I hear you, but unfortunately it seems a lot of providers don't. I want an explicit "put up or shut up, no seriously SHUT UP" policy to get their attention.
Show threadCloudPundit (Lydia Leong)Dec 13, 2023
@Quinnypig The whole MVP approach -- and extended public betas -- complicate everything, too. (I'm quite curious what you think of the Solution Comparison evaluation, which emphasizes the cloud architect's view, rather than their management's.)
Show threadCorey QuinnDec 13, 2023
@cloudpundit I can't find it! Help?
Show threadCloudPundit (Lydia Leong)Dec 13, 2023

@Quinnypig Paywalled: Solution Comparison for Strategic Cloud Integrated IaaS and PaaS Providers

https://www.gartner.com/doc/4584299?ref=shareSummary&refval=4

Show threadColinDec 12, 2023
@Quinnypig I am shocked Microsoft tenant isolation didn't let them invade other quadrants.
Show threadJamie LawrenceDec 13, 2023
@Quinnypig was AWS’ desire to colonise every letter of the alphabet with 10 different products a ZIRP? Or is the misery, sorry “innovation”, going to continue?