[dfrankle]

I appreciate the perspective presented in the article, but I respectfully disagree with the notion that outsourcing jobs to functional containers is an entirely positive development.

While it's true that this approach can provide significant benefits in terms of cost savings and scalability, there are potential downsides that need to be considered. For example, the reliance on external infrastructure could lead to vendor lock-in, making it difficult to switch providers or move back to an in-house solution if needed. Additionally, there might be concerns about data privacy and security when dealing with sensitive information in a cloud-based environment.

Moreover, this shift towards functional containers could also impact the job market, potentially leading to job losses for those who specialize in traditional infrastructure management. It's important to consider the broader implications of this trend and strive for a balanced approach that takes into account both the advantages and potential drawbacks.

Would you agree that there are certain risks associated with relying heavily on functional containers? And if so, how do you think companies can mitigate these risks while still reaping the benefits of this technology?

[mjb]

> For example, the reliance on external infrastructure could lead to vendor lock-in, making it difficult to switch providers or move back to an in-house solution if needed.

Lambda's runtime API is quite simple, and well documented (https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/runtimes-api.ht...). Other than that, Lambda functions are "just" containers running on open source runtimes (named versions of nodeJS, Corretto, etc). Local implementations are also available.

Clearly, the operational properties (like reliability and scalability) that these folks point out are difficult to achieve on-prem.

> Additionally, there might be concerns about data privacy and security when dealing with sensitive information in a cloud-based environment.

Lambda's approach to security is documented here: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/whitepapers/latest/security-over... for the compute components, and we discuss some of the "why" behind that in the Firecracker paper (https://www.usenix.org/conference/nsdi20/presentation/agache).