123: The Cloud Pod does Step in the Studio

On The Cloud Pod this week, Jonathan pulls a classic move from 2020 and doesn’t realize he’s on mute. Also, the team completely destroys an article about the cloud being too expensive for what you get.            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 VC firm a16z calls the cloud a “trillion-dollar paradox” in a blog post, noting the pressure cloud computing puts on margins can start to outweigh the benefits. We think there are quite a few holes in their analysis and the Dropbox example doesn’t work. AWS releases Step Functions Workflow Studio. Developers new to Step Functions will enjoy being able to build workflows faster.  Google announces that Quantum computers from IonQ are now on its marketplace. Developers, researchers and enterprises alike can now access IonQ’s high-fidelity, 11-qubit system via Google Cloud.    General News: A Trillion-Dollar Paradox  Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, known as “a16z,” thinks the cost of cloud computing outweighs its benefits. Dropbox is a terrible example to use in this case.   Splunk launches Splunk Security Cloud and announces a billion-dollar investment by a private equity firm. We think it’s having some integration problems in the background — it’s something to keep an eye on.     Amazon Web Services: Jonathan, You’re On Mute AWS launches