Amazon's e-commerce business is not highly profitable, but AWS's cloud services have high operating margins.

• Amazon.com's retail is competitive with low margins.
• Profitability of Amazon Inc. hinges on AWS operating margins, recently reaching 30%.
• AWS's cloud computing model is highly used and addictive for businesses.

Cloud providers use free tiers and complex pricing to lock in startups and obscure cost implications of switching.

• Cloud providers offer significant free credits, betting on long-term profitability from startups.
• Complex pricing models make it difficult to assess the costs of switching providers.

Outrageous egress fees create vendor lock-in, making it financially impractical to switch cloud providers.

• Egress fees are charged when data leaves a cloud provider's network.
• These fees can be prohibitively expensive, discouraging customers from switching providers.

Google Cloud's removal of egress fees could reduce vendor lock-in barriers and may be a response to upcoming regulations.

• Google Cloud recently removed egress fees for data migration away from their services.
• This move may be influenced by the EU's Data Act aiming to address cloud egress fees.

Switching clouds is costly due to high egress fees and the reliance of many SaaS companies on particular cloud providers.

• Big cloud providers charge high egress fees, making it costly to move large data sets.
• SaaS companies often have to stay on the same cloud to avoid exorbitant transfer costs.

Cloud providers use proprietary technology and managed services to further lock in customers.

• Custom databases and APIs make it difficult to migrate services to other platforms.
• Customers become reliant on a cloud provider's ecosystem, which can include open source tools.

To avoid cloud dependence, options include self-managing servers, using open source tech, or embracing a single provider.

• Self-managed servers could be more cost-effective for medium-sized businesses in the long run.
• Using open source technologies allows for multi-cloud or hybrid strategies.
• Fully embracing a cloud provider can be the easiest path, with cost traded for convenience.