10.6 Choosing a provider, and lock-in told honestly
You can make a provider decision you can defend in a year.
Provider choice is a decision to defend in a year, not a taste to express today, and this topic gives it structure: what actually differs between providers, what portability really costs against what lock-in really costs, and exit criteria written down before adoption rather than during a dispute. Sovereignty and procurement constraints get their place because institutions carry them. It closes the architecture module because the choice composes everything else. The confusion it retires is lock-in as a monster; it is a price, sometimes worth paying, and pretending otherwise just moves the cost somewhere unbudgeted.
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What actually differs, and what is the same everywhere
Most core services are equivalent across providers, and the real differences sit in the managed offerings, the ecosystem and the support. Knowing which parts genuinely differ shortens the evaluation considerably.
The real cost of portability versus the real cost of lock-in
Staying portable costs effort continuously; being tied costs a lot once, if you ever leave. This item is about pricing both honestly rather than assuming portability is free virtue.
Exit criteria written before adoption
Deciding in advance what would make you leave turns a vague worry into a testable condition. Written before adoption, it is a useful document; written after, it is a complaint.
Sovereignty, procurement and institutional constraints
Institutional constraints, procurement rules and where data may legally sit often decide the answer before any technical comparison. Recognising that early saves an evaluation nobody will act on.
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