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We're going to need default hard budget caps on pretty much everything

611 points · 302 comments · elffjs

  1. brap · · focus · HN ↗
    When I first started working with cloud providers it was shocking to discover this feature doesn’t exist, basically anywhere.

    It’s such a basic thing, not having it has to be deliberate to make you accidentally spend more than you’d like.

    1. foldr · · focus · HN ↗
      >It’s such a basic thing, not having it has to be deliberate to make you accidentally spend more than you’d like.

      This is unlikely. The big cloud providers routinely cancel bills based on accidental usage. The real explanation is just that it's technically difficult to calculate all usage in real time and shut down systems immediately as soon as a certain cap is reached.

      1. nicce · · focus · HN ↗
        > This is unlikely. The big cloud providers routinely cancel bills based on accidental usage

        That is not an evidence alone. They also don't cancel bills in many cases. Most people also just swallow the damage and pay. Like gym subscriptions where people just pay because cancelling was too hard and they postpone the canceling because it takes so much effort. And they also think it is their fault of not cancelling, because it took that much of effort.

        > The real explanation is just that it's technically difficult to calculate all usage in real time and shut down systems immediately as soon as a certain cap is reached.

        That is trivial to add these days. Cloud providers usually say that "we care about your business and don't want to make your systems go down unexpectedly if you did not pay your bills".

        1. foldr · · focus · HN ↗
          How do you know that it's trivial to add?

          The difference between Amazon and gym subscriptions is that Amazon can easily make more money by upselling to happy customers than it can by screwing individuals or small businesses out of relatively small amounts of money for their accidental usage.

          1. pixl97 · · focus · HN ↗
            Before AI that is.

            In cpu compute margins are high and there is a lot of excess compute, you can give some away and make money.

            In the age of AI this is gone. These companies have taken on huge debts. The operating margins are going to crash as interests increase. AI enabled fraud is going to make stolen service even more common.

            1. foldr · · focus · HN ↗
              That may be true, but I don't think it really affects the point. "Make people use our services accidentally and then force them to cough up" is just never going to be a good business plan for AWS. AWS makes money selling to big customers who willingly come back for more. AI might make it harder for AWS to turn a profit, but it's not going to make a lack of hard usage caps suddenly become central to AWS's business strategy.
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