Amazon Broadens Cloud Services as Big Companies Sign On - WSJ

The 5th annual AWS re:Invent conference starts tomorrow

"One distinct difference, however, is that Amazon, unlike Microsoft, stands to make money when AWS customers use partners’ services. Microsoft customers until recently paid only once for a Windows license, but AWS customers pay more as they spend more time on the platform.

“Andy is doing a better job than I did, in part because the business model is different,” said Bob Muglia, a former Windows executive who now serves as CEO of Snowflake Computing, a data-warehouse service that customers use to analyze stored information. Snowflake both runs on AWS and competes with Amazon’s Redshift service.

As the market matures, Mr. Muglia expects to see Amazon compete more with what the company calls its “ecosystem partners.”"

Amazon Broadens Cloud Services as Big Companies Sign On - WSJ