Users pay only for what they use. There are no minimum terms, and no requirement to enter into a service contract. All of this makes AWS ultra-accessible and also truly democratic--you or I can use it to offload some of our computing requirements, while .

Can HP emulate that? And even if they did, do we need another AWS? It's not so much that Amazon is part of the cloud services marketplace. It is the services marketplace, and the services are so inexpensive that there's not the kind of discontent that drives customers to a different provider. Once again, HP is going to have to be immensely innovative to gain a foothold.

And that's the sad part of all this. Right now in various boardrooms, HP executives are no doubt talking about ." They're probably looking at what focus groups have told them people want. Market researchers will be a looming presence.

Again, compare and contrast to AWS. It started small. Through a system of being highly responsive to customer feedback, AWS engineers have built a mighty infrastructure of cloud services that address just about any need. In many ways, AWS is built by engineers for engineers. It's all about creating services that scratch an itch.

It's hard to imagine HP getting in at the ground-floor like AWS did. It would require too much humility for such a large and venerable corporation.