Amazon Versus Microsoft: A Jedi Fight Development
March 13, 2020
DarkCyber spotted this story on the BBC Web site: “Pentagon to Reconsider Jedi $10bn Cloud Contract.” Since we are in rural Kentucky, the intrepid team does not know if the information in the Beeb’s write up is accurate. The factoids are definitely interesting. The story asserts:
The US Department of Defense is to “reconsider” its decision to award a multi-billion dollar cloud contract to Microsoft over Amazon.
The story points out that Microsoft is confident that its Azure system will prevail. Amazon, on the other hand, is allegedly pleased.
What’s at stake?
- Money
- A hunting license for other government contracts
- Implicit endorsement of either AWS or Azure
- Happy resellers, integrators, and consultants
- Ego (maybe?)
When will JEDI be resolved? Possibly in the summer of 2020.
Stephen E Arnold, March 13, 2020
Google and Amazon: Two Dominant Dogs Snap and Snarl at One Another
March 13, 2020
DarkCyber read “How Google Kneecapped Amazon’s Smart TV Efforts.” The uptake on criminal lingo continues. For those not hip to the argot of some technology savvy professionals, the Urban Dictionary defines the concept this way:
The act of permanently destroying someone’s kneecaps. Often done with a firearm (as popularized in film and television), a baseball bat or lead pipe or other blunt instrument, or a power drill (often used in conjunction with a countersunk drill bit and popular with the IRA).
Yes, the elegance of business competition requires these metaphors it seems. DarkCyber thinks the article is “about” the collision of cleverness and rapaciousness. But enough of our philosophical wanderings. What did Google do to Amazon, assuming online services have joints which keep bone and joint doctors busy?
The write up states:
Any company that licenses Google’s Android TV operating system for some of its smart TVs or even uses Android as a mobile operating system has to agree to terms that prevent it from also building devices using forked versions of Android like Amazon’s Fire TV operating system, according to multiple sources. If a company were to break those terms, it could lose access to the Play Store and Google’s apps for all of its devices.
Ah, ha! The kneecapping is not physical; those making devices sign a contract.
Plus, there’s another Googley twist of the 6 mm drill bit, a metaphor for kneecapping explained above:
At the center of Google’s efforts to block Amazon’s smart TV ambitions is the Android Compatibility Commitment — a confidential set of policies formerly known as the Anti-Fragmentation Agreement — that manufacturers of Android devices have to agree to in order to get access to Google’s Play Store. Google has been developing Android as an open-source operating system, while at the same time keeping much tighter control of what device manufacturers can do if they want access to the Play Store as well as the company’s suite of apps. For Android TV, Google’s apps include a highly customized launcher, or home screen, optimized for big-screen environments, as well as a TV version of its Play Store. Google policies are meant to set a baseline for compatible Android devices and guarantee that apps developed for one Android device also work on another. The company also gives developers some latitude, allowing them to build their own versions of Android based on the operating system’s open source code, as long as they follow Google’s compatibility requirements.
Interesting.
How will the issue be resolved? Legal eagles will flap and squawk. Customers can vote with their purchases. But TVs cost very little because “advertising” and data are often useful sources of revenue. Regulators can regulate, just as they have since Google and Amazon discovered the benefits of their interesting business activities.
Regardless of the outcome between the assailant and the victim, the article reveals some of the more charming facets of two “must have” businesses. How can a person advance his or her understanding of the kneecapping allegation.
DarkCyber will run a Google query for business ethics and purchase a copy of Business Ethics: Best Practices for Designing and Managing Ethical Organizations from Amazon. You have to find your own way through the labyrinths of the underworld, you gangster, no mercy, no malice, as the pundit, scholar, entrepreneur, and media phenomenon Scott Gallaway has said.
Stephen E Arnold, March 12, 2020
Factoids about the Cloud Battles
March 10, 2020
DarkCyber noted “Stress Test the Cloud: Alibaba Cloud, AWS, Azure, GCP.” The write up presents “factoids” and observations based on these factoids in a helpful way. Here are the points which captured DarkCyber’s attention:
The cloud will be the way of the future in computing. The meltdown of Robinhood’s trading platform was pegged on stress. When a cloud system is stressed, it may and will fail.
Amazon Web Services
- “Amazon’s e-commerce business is the market leader in the U.S., Europe, and close to number 1 in India”
- “AWS is very much battle-tested and constantly “stressed out” by its parent company’s core e-commerce operation. It has moved all of its businesses onto AWS, and off of other systems like Oracle, after a multi-year effort.”
- Amazon’s businesses are generally not prone to unexpected spikes in traffic, which happens more to social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Weibo.”
Amazon’s system may not be optimal for surprise spikes.
Alibaba Cloud
- “Alibaba’s core e-commerce business has many similarities to Amazon’s…”
- “This accomplishment is well-deserved; Alibaba has basically created and survived the mother of all stress tests.” The reference is to the large volume of sales on Singles Day.
- “Alibaba Cloud’s technical and operational expertise can certainly be applied in regions outside of China, but only until there’s customer demand and the data centers to serve it.”
Alibaba dumped American vendors as part of its journey.
Google Cloud
- “Google has arguably the only, truly global infrastructure, because its services and users are global.”
- “Google‘s services cannot anticipate traffic spikes, unlike a planned shopping holiday, and must be ready wherever, whenever it happens.”
- “Google’s products do not naturally lead to processing many complex transactions, like online shopping orders, offline delivery, or payments.”
Google can accommodate stress, but it’s not so good in Amazon-style transaction complexity.
Microsoft Azure
- “None of these [Microsoft] businesses have to be “always on”, in the same way that an e-commerce marketplace or a search engine needs to be on.”
- “Azure is still doing amazingly well from a revenue and market share standpoint. This success has more to do with Microsoft’s years of experience in selling products into large enterprises and aggressively moving users of its non-cloud license-based products onto the same products that are now on-cloud and subscription-based. Microsoft is very good at being “enterprise ready”, but not that good at being “Internet ready”.”
- “It [Microsoft] has by far the most number of Single-AZ Regions, which has led to outages and issues that could’ve been avoided with a multi-AZ design. Multi-AZ Region is the default in AWS, GCP, and most of Alibaba Cloud.”
Microsoft is good at sales, not so good at the cloud.
Net Net
Alibaba is darned good. At any time the company can push into other markets and create some pain for the American companies it seems.
Stephen E Arnold, March 10, 2020
Amazon Versus Microsoft: JEDI in Play?
March 7, 2020
DarkCyber spotted a story in Stars and Stripes titled “Judge Says Amazon Likely to Succeed on Key Argument in Pentagon Cloud Lawsuit.” The source appears to be the Bezos-owned Washington Post. That fact may provide some context for the story.
The main point in the write up seems to be:
A federal judge has concluded that a bid protest lawsuit brought by Amazon over President Donald Trump’s intervention in an important Pentagon cloud computing contract “is likely to succeed on the merits” of one of its central arguments, according to a court document made public Friday [March 6, 2020].
The article states:
In an opinion explaining her reasoning, Campbell-Smith sided with Amazon’s contention that the Pentagon had made a mistake in how it evaluated prices for competing proposals from Amazon and Microsoft. She also concluded that the mistake is likely to materially harm Amazon, an important qualifier for government contract bid protests.
What’s missing from this story? Detail for one thing.
Several observations:
- Planners for the JEDI program are likely to experience uncertainty
- Regardless of the ultimate decision, time to implement newer systems is being lost
- The cost of the procurement process for JEDI will climb and, at some point, may become larger than the program itself.
Net net: Government procurement remains an interesting and impactful process. Procurement just keeps grinding its procedural mechanisms, delivering “efficiency.”
Stephen E Arnold, March 7, 2020
Tools for TikTok and Twitch
March 5, 2020
DarkCyber spotted “JOBY Launches New Line of Accessories for Content Creators.” The idea is that there are quite a few people streaming video. The equipment required for IRL and some popular streaming situations has to be cobbled together. Enter Joby. The company offers a
- Video streaming kit for $200
- An LED halo light for $90
- A stand for iPhone and Android devices for $40.
Are there other brands competing for the vloggers’ money? Yes, Razer, Neewer, and Homall among others.
If you want to locate these products, be sure to search for products tagged for games, vloggers, streamers, and Twitch. Amazon will sell you beannie’s, hoodies, and a book “Twitch for Dummies.”
A new Amazon Basics category may be coalescing. TikTok fame awaits.
Stephen E Arnold, March 5, 2020
Amazon Pursues the Ipanema Way
February 26, 2020
Foreign technology investment is a booming industry. Most major technology investments appear to occur in Asia and western countries. Amazon Web Services is looking south for technology investments, specifically Brazil. ZDNet reports that, “AWS Plants Multimillion-Dollar Investment In Brazil” for development.
AWS plans to invest $233 million (1 billion reais) to expand its infrastructure in São Paulo. The investment will be made over two years. Governor of São Paulo João Doria predicts that AWS’s investment will create more jobs and opportunities for startups within the state. AWS and the Brazilian officials did not share anything else about the deal other than an official press releases. AWS first came to São Paulo in 2012, when they built its first datacenter. That was just the start of the new investment:
“A few years later, the company announced that it would be using the customer cost-consciousness driven by economic instability to grow its business in Brazil and increase its influence in the local technology community. Cloud computing and artificial intelligence will be the core areas of focus when it comes to investment in technology in Brazil in 2020, according to a study released last month by technology firm CI&T.”
AWS’s major challenge in Brazil will be guaranteeing that this sector of the market can keep up with the rest of the world. Cloud computing technology advancements are driving AWS to invest in Brazil because it is a new, although volatile market.
Whitney Grace, February 26, 2020
Amazon: Buying More Innovation
February 26, 2020
DarkCyber noted the article “Amazon Acquires Turkish Startup Datarow.” The word “startup” is rather loosely applied. Datarow was founded in 2016. Not a spring chicken in DarkCyber’s view is a four year old outfit.
What’s interesting about this acquisition is that it provides the sometimes unartful Amazon with an outfit that specializes in making easier-to-use data tools. The firm appears to have been built around AWS Redshift.
The company’s quite wonky Web site says:
We’re proud to have created an innovative tool that facilitates data exploration and visualization for data analysts in Amazon Redshift, providing users with an easy to use interface to create tables, load data, author queries, perform visual analysis, and collaborate with others to share SQL code, analysis, and results. Together with AWS, we look forward to taking our tool to the next level for customers.
The company provides what it calls “data governance,” a term which DarkCyber means “get your act together” with regard to information. This is easier said than done, but it is a hot button among companies struggling to reduce costs, comply with assorted rules and regulations, and figure out what’s actually happening in their lines of business. Profit and loss statements are not up to the job of dealing with diverse content, audio, video, real time data, and tweets. Well, neither is Amazon, but that’s not germane.
Will Amazon AWS Redshift (love the naming, don’t you?) become easier to use? Perhaps Datarow will become responsible for the AWS Web site?
Stephen E Arnold, February 26, 2020
Does Amazon Have Dark User Interface Patterns?
February 25, 2020
The question “Does Amazon make use of interfaces intentionally designed to generate revenue?” is an interesting one. Amazon does have a boatload of features, functions, and services. There are — what? — more than a half dozen different databases, including the quantum thing.
The article “My First AWS Free Tier Hosting Bill Was $900.” The idea is that “free” did not mean exactly free. This is akin to the word “unlimited” when it appears in mobile data plans. Is Amazon following a path blazed by telecommunications giants, truly models of consumer centric behavior in DarkCyber’s narrow view of the economic world.
The write up states:
A major part of AWS marketing is pay-per-use for their services:
“You only pay for the services you consume, and once you stop using them, there are no additional costs or termination fees.” – AWS Pricing
They also market “free tier” products, less powerful instances that are free for the first year of use.
The article reports that a slow roll out allowed the system to “sit around for a month.”
That decision cost about $1,000.
The article points out that assuming that an “idle server” would not cost anything. Also, the Amazon jargon did not make sense, so the developer ignored the Amazon speak.
The write up goes through the Amazon lingo to alert other individuals of Amazon’s approach to “free.”
Several observations:
- Amazon is confusing. DarkCyber thinks this is party due to the vaunted two pizza team approach to programming and part due to clever marketers who really want to match up to the founder’s principles.
- Amazon pitches itself hard as the logical, best, and superior choice for cloud anything. Individuals who buy this pig in a poke are going to pay.
- Amazon, if one makes a good case to the customer service unit staffed with people who sort of speak like those in rural Kentucky, will modify the charge.
Are these some lessons one can learn from this write up? Maybe, for example:
- Learn to speak Amazon
- Think before clicking
- Amazon became really big for a reason: Avoid becoming a third party merchant whose hot product became part of Amazon Basics.
Your mileage may vary from the drive through the Tunnel of Love that the author of the article took.
Stephen E Arnold, February 25, 2020
Did PopSockets Slow the Bezos Bulldozer?
February 25, 2020
At a recent hearing of the House Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law, major tech players Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google were all accused of anticompetitive practices. Representatives listened to executives from Sonos, Basecamp, Tile, and PopSockets describe how those larger companies have unfairly wielded their market dominance against smaller players. For one CEO, Amazon’s behavior was especially egregious. Mashable reports, “PopSockets CEO Calls Out Amazon’s ‘Bullying with a Smile’ Tactics.” Reporter Jack Morse writes:
“Barnett, under oath, told the gathered members of the House that Amazon initially played nice only to drop the hammer when it believed no one was watching. After agreeing to a written contract stipulating a price at which PopSockets would be sold on Amazon, the e-commerce giant would then allegedly unilaterally lower the price and demand that PopSockets make up the difference.”
When asked how Amazon could ignore their contract, Barnett elaborated:
“‘With coercive tactics, basically,’ he replied. ‘And these are tactics that are mainly executed by phone. It’s one of the strangest relationships I’ve ever had with a retailer.’ Barnett emphasized that, on paper, the contract ‘appears to be negotiated in good faith.’ However, he claimed, this is followed by ‘… frequent phone calls. And on the phone calls we get what I might call bullying with a smile. Very friendly people that we deal with who say, “By the way, we dropped the price of X product last week. We need you to pay for it.”’ Barnett said he would push back and that’s when ‘the threats come.’ He asserted that Amazon representatives would tell him over the phone: ‘If we don’t get it, then we’re going to source product from the gray market.’”
PBS, the TV outfit, took a close look at Amazon and saw George Orwell, not the smiling box. So with JEDI stalled, Amazon seems to be popping and socketing to the rhythm of ringing cash registers.
Cynthia Murrell, February 25, 2020
Ring: An Amagenic Response?
February 22, 2020
Big technology companies like Amazon, Facebook, and Google lie. All of these companies have lied about collecting user data and selling it. Amazon is in the hotspot once again and this time the company was caught lying about facial recognition. Check out the article from Buzzfeed News called, “Ring Says It Doesn’t Use Facial Recognition, Bit It Has ‘A Head Of Face Recognition Research.’”
Amazon’s Ring is a popular home security device deployed in ten million homes. Amazon has gone on the record stating that Ring does not use facial recognition technology, but Buzzfeed News discovered that Ring’s Ukraine branch are working on it. Amazon received flack before about working with law enforcement agencies and it turns out that Ring has partnerships with 405 police departments. According to the article:
“Police departments with Ring partnerships currently have the ability to see the general vicinity of camera locations in a community. Officers, using a tool called Ring Neighborhoods Portal, can then request that users who post videos to Ring’s app, Neighbors, share those clips with law enforcement. As BuzzFeed News previously reported, Ring’s terms of service gives the company an irrevocable, perpetual license to the video content users post on Neighbors.
Documents obtained by Motherboard found that some police departments were required to distribute free Ring cameras to residents and encourage adoption of the Neighbors app, while some cities paid Ring up to $100,000 to subsidize Ring cameras for community residents.”
Ring currently does not have facial recognition technology deployed to its units, but in the future it could be possible. Facial recognition technology is imperfect and constantly fails to identify individuals.
Ring is likely to remain in the digital frame.
Whitney Grace, February 22, 2020
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