The problem with Amazon is that despite touting an open API, their infrastructure internals and practices are a trade secret, so the likes of Eucalyptus are having to play catchup. In other words, I cannot replicate their infrastructure in my own data center, even I had the money to pay them. I suspect this is the main reason that Heroku didn't move off Amazon, and not the fact that Amazon was providing them great value for money.

There is definitely value in platforms, but those platforms should be built on completely open standards with no vendor lock in or influence, as is the case with OpenStack for example: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/02/10/rackspace_buys_opens...

If you didn't watch my talk, I should point out that I'm working on Akshell (http://www.akshell.com), which is itself a platform provider, so I am in fact agreeing with you.