Thread by @swardley

X : What's the difference between AWS QL DB and Blockchain?
Me : Not having to burn the planet in pursuit of proof of work that most use cases don't actually need?
X : But it's centralised.
Me : Is that an argument for burning the planet? Where are we upto in global energy use?

X : But what about PoS?
Me : I agree there are more efficient ways of having a decentralised blockchain. There are tradeoffs to be made. But there are also benefits / trade offs to a central authority especially if what you're really after is an immutable ledger.

... the big debate today is really about centralisation vs decentralisation of provision and power (as in control). Take AWS Outpost, it's an example of decentralisation of provision but still centralisation of power. There are an awful lot of complex trade offs involved ...

... one complicating factor is the economic principles behind product / rental competition are different from commodity / utility competition. It's a different game and too many are playing by the wrong rulebook.

e.g. the whole idea of competing on feature differentiation in a commodity / utility space rather than competing on operational efficiency is a hangover from a product mindset. You saw this with OpenStack ... we're going to compete on APIs! WTF? Why?

It's like the 2nd Curve idea ... brilliant stuff if you're in a product vs product battle as you can afford to be a fast follower. Try play that in a product to utility battle and you're dead in the water against anyone who is any good. You need to be one of the first movers.

In a product vs product battle, you can ride the curve, scan the environment and react quickly to the next. You can't actually anticipate the next curve.

In a product vs utility battle, you need to initiate the next curve. Fortunately, there are ways of anticipating it.