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In the sense that the company paying to reserve a certain quantity of computer time isn't the owner or operator of the machines providing it, and has paid for that time by the hour, or something?

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Yes. Most cloud provider bill based on wall clock time rather than core time, so you don't get a discount for the machines being idle.

I see, so there is a marginal cost to the owner of the machines but not necessarily to a medium-term customer renting them.

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