AWS's service offerings have an uncanny evolution pace. They have repeatedly delivered new features that I felt like were obviously missing within weeks of me noticing then.
It will be hard for Google and Microsoft to keep up given AWS head start. But the competition will make up for a healthier ecosystem which is very welcome.
"It will be hard for Google and Microsoft to keep up given AWS head start."
I too, am impressed with Amazon's velocity - but, I'm curious - once Amazon lays out the product roadmap - storage, message queues, DNS, archiving, etc... what's to prevent Google/IBM/Microsoft from just cloning those services?
> what's to prevent Google/IBM/Microsoft from just cloning those services?
Nothing. That's the best part about commodities. Their price gets driven down by competition (note what S3 and EC2 pricing started at, and what it is now).
It will be hard for Google and Microsoft to keep up given AWS head start. But the competition will make up for a healthier ecosystem which is very welcome.