![]() But one consequence of building a service to run on a platform like AWS is that it can be awfully hard to migrate elsewhere-engineers might “optimize their entire tech stack” for AWS-or, in English, make everything work well with it in a way that’s difficult to transpose. There are plenty of AWS alternatives, too. ![]() That’s a dubious claim at best: theoretically speaking, there’s little stopping Parler from going old-school and running its own servers, especially if they’re hosted outside the United States, a common move among similarly dubious services looking to avoid the wrath of the moderators, be they corporate overlords or law enforcement (indeed, Parler has since turned to a Russian company for help in getting at least partially online). Whether AWS and rival services should wield such power is the central debate in Parler’s subsequent lawsuit against Amazon, which underscores just how reliant Parler was upon AWS-Parler, the suit says, has “no other options” to be online other than AWS. It’s one thing to stop offering an app, it’s another to destabilize or block another company’s entire online operation. That has given those firms tremendous sway over what conduct is and is not acceptable on the Internet-in terms of free speech, they have become even more powerful than, say, Apple. But that convenience came at a cost: modern Internet services are increasingly built on AWS and its rivals, like Microsoft Azure and IBM Cloud. Then came cloud providers like AWS, which rent servers (and offer myriad other services) on demand-you or I could go over to AWS and have something running on AWS servers in minutes.Ĭloud computing seems basic today, but it was a revolutionary concept, serving as the backbone for pretty much the entire modern digital startup ecosystem-eliminating the costly and time-consuming process of spinning up your own servers got rid of an immense hurtle for fledgling companies, making them better able to compete with-and in some cases topple-existing hegemons. In ye olden times, companies that wanted to do much of anything having to do with the Internet generally had to run their own servers, a complicated, costly and time-consuming enterprise mostly reserved for the largest firms. AWS isn’t an app store, it’s a cloud computing service. If you want to distribute a mobile app, Apple and Google are pretty much the only games in town-a problematic duopoly, to be sure, but you can do a lot with the mobile web these days not everyone needs an app.Īmazon kicking a company off AWS, however, can be a death punch. But even without the App Store, Fortnite’s doing just fine, playable on a swath of other platforms, from Android smartphones to Sony’s PlayStation consoles. That’s a big blow, to be sure-just ask Fortnite creator Epic Games, which is engaged in an epic legal battle with Apple after getting kicked off the App Store over its attempt to bypass Apple’s 30% cut from Epic’s sales there. When Apple or Google shows a company the door, it means that firm’s app will no longer be available for download through the respective company’s app store. But the decision by AWS may be a seminal moment in the slow evolution of the Internet from government- and academia-driven innovation to a corporatist marketplace. Much has been made over Apple and Google’s decisions, and for good reason: it’s a household name and pretty much everyone with a smartphone interacts with the App Store or Google Play store on a regular basis.
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