151: Free Trial Ends Next Month… or Does It?

On The Cloud Pod this week, we’re back to a full house (at least for one episode.) Plus, introducing AWS open-source Cloud Map, GCP announces new Bigtable autoscale feature, and Oracle gives us a retro tour of a data center.

A big thanks to this week’s sponsors:

• Foghorn Consulting, which provides full-stack cloud solutions with a focus on strategy, planning and execution for enterprises seeking to take advantage of the transformative capabilities of AWS, Google Cloud and Azure.

• JumpCloud, which offers a complete platform for identity, access, and device management — no matter where your users and devices are located. 

This week’s highlights

• In a move that shows it supports open source when convenient, AWS introduces new Cloud Map capabilities, and U-turns on proposed charges after 30 days. The new console still sucks, by the way.
• GCP introduces the very welcome Bigtable autoscaling feature, with new optimizing and manageability features and improvements.
• Oracle comes bearing over a hundred gifts from its blog, and gives us a look inside a data center. 

Top Quotes  

• “I’m starting to wonder what’s going on over at AWS. We’ve talked about the Orca issues, the security rollout … And now we have this: We’re turning on things in your account that are going to cost you money. I saw the earnings… they look pretty good, so I’m not entirely sure why they’re turning on features that cost money — with no notice — and putting the onus on me to turn this stuff off.”
• “So isn’t that really just a rehashing of the same problem that most IT professionals have been doing for the last 20 years? On the other hand, I don’t want to manage my own legacy Oracle footprint, so the fact that they’re going to take that, move it to the cloud, and then run it for me — I’m all for that.”

General News: Zero Trust ‘Hijacked’ by Network Security Firms 

• 0⃣ Zscaler CEO Jay Chaudhry gets us wise to network security firm marketing tactics, highlighting that practicing zero trust and investing in network security are incompatible with each other.  

AWS: Not Amazon’s Best Month… 

• In a ridiculous move that completely violates the trust of its customers, AWS attempts to charge after a 30-day trial when no one is paying attention — but everyone noticed. First Orca, now this.
• Watch out you don’t make your CFO cry with the launch of the very nice but very expensive new Amazon X2iezn instances.
• AWS shows its open-source credentials — but only because it’s convenient — with the rollout of the new AWS Cloud Map MCS Controller for K8s.

GCP: Coming for Crypto

• Cloud Bigtable’s new autoscaling feature promises cost optimization and improved manageabili