> these investors want to see an exponential return
Don't think this is the reason, at least for Sentry. They've been in business for more than a decade.
The bigger reason is that it would take AWS 2 weeks to offer a version of their product. It would be API compatible because it would be exactly the same code. AWS would offer an introductory price of $0 for the first year. Not all Sentry customers would switch, but many would. Sentry would continue to develop their product, while AWS maintained a skeleton crew to deploy their changes and make most of the money off it.
While it may be easier to assume the worst of people, ascribing all kinds of intentions to them, just listen to them. They say "we don't want AWS to deploy our product and take all our customers". They say it because it's what they're really worried about.
Sentry raised $90 million in a series E round in May 2022, and their total funding is sitting at $217 million.
No cloud provider even offers a hosted version of Sentry, so it's not like that's an issue for their business. Spinning up a VM and deploying your own version is incredibly straightforward. Which is exactly why they now need to switch licenses and put newer features behind more restrictive terms so users are forced to pay.
> Which is exactly why they now need to switch licenses and put newer features behind more restrictive terms so users are forced to pay
Sentry switched to BUSL in 2019, almost 5 years ago.[1]
Most of the aforementioned fundraising occurred after the license change (e.g. the $90MM round you mention from 2022, and another $60MM round in 2021).
The "restrictive terms" - which again, were introduced in 2019 - are that you can use the software but not use the code to compete against the software's authors. For 99.99% of users, this has been a non-issue, because most people have no interest in doing so.
I like your product, but I tried self-hosting it -- twice over maybe four years -- and both times it just fell apart and destroyed itself in about two months after being set up. Proper configuration and regular upgrades as recommended by documentation, afaict. I'm ready to admit that I'm a complete idiot, but I have never had anything like that with any other product. I have my own theories for why it keeps happening, but not having any proof will keep them to myself...
Don't think this is the reason, at least for Sentry. They've been in business for more than a decade.
The bigger reason is that it would take AWS 2 weeks to offer a version of their product. It would be API compatible because it would be exactly the same code. AWS would offer an introductory price of $0 for the first year. Not all Sentry customers would switch, but many would. Sentry would continue to develop their product, while AWS maintained a skeleton crew to deploy their changes and make most of the money off it.
While it may be easier to assume the worst of people, ascribing all kinds of intentions to them, just listen to them. They say "we don't want AWS to deploy our product and take all our customers". They say it because it's what they're really worried about.