{"id":1749,"slug":"caveats-falling-cost-floor-vendor-incentive","title":"Caveats: AWS vendor framing quarantined; build-vs-buy vendor cost pages flagged; DrPeering single-source; sysadmin wages needs-verification","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","candid-team"],"topics":["editorial-discipline","cloud-infrastructure-economics","bespoke-build-economics"],"reference_body":"**The honest summary of source quality across this brief:**\n\n- **AWS \"we cut prices N times\" framing** ([[aws-100-price-cuts-vendor-framing-quarantined]]) — vendor self-congratulation. **Quarantined.** Only the dated launch price ($0.15/GB for [[s3-launch-march-2006-15-cents-per-gb]]; $0.10/hr for [[ec2-launch-august-2006-ten-cents-per-hour]]) and the current published price are primary.\n- **Build-vs-buy SaaS vendor cost pages** (SPP, Agency Handy, Space-O, Kavara — see [[custom-client-portal-build-cost-spp-2025]] and [[custom-dashboard-cost-kavara-80-250k]]) — incentive to make custom builds look expensive. Used for ceiling figures but **flagged**.\n- **DrPeering transit series** ([[bandwidth-transit-1200-to-5-per-mbps-1998-2010]]) — single-source; 2011+ values are author projections, not observed.\n- **Pre-2007 dedicated/colo prices** ([[pre-cloud-dedicated-colocation-pricing-2004-2007]]) — forum-quoted invoices on Web Hosting Talk; archived Rackspace pricing pages not retrievable.\n- **Early-2000s BLS sysadmin wage** ([[pre-cloud-sysadmin-wages-bls-2024]]) — exact 2002/2004 figure ($51K–$58K range) not rendered from primary BLS OEWS at brief deadline; needs-verification.\n- **Firebase Auth exact launch date** ([[cognito-firebase-auth-2014]]) — not separately confirmed beyond Firebase's 2014 acquisition by Google.\n- **AI-assisted coding magnitude** — deliberately **not researched in depth** ([[rule-keep-ai-coding-at-the-margin-not-as-spine]]).\n\n**Practical posture for Candid:** every published cost claim gets a source label and, where applicable, a vendor-incentive flag. See [[rule-flag-vendor-incentive-on-cost-claims]].","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[{"slug":"aws-100-price-cuts-vendor-framing-quarantined","title":"AWS \"we've cut prices 100+ times since 2006\" framing — quarantined as vendor self-congratulation","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"bandwidth-transit-1200-to-5-per-mbps-1998-2010","title":"Internet transit collapsed from $1,200/Mbps (1998) to ~$5/Mbps (2010) — ~240× per DrPeering/Norton series","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"pre-cloud-dedicated-colocation-pricing-2004-2007","title":"Pre-cloud dedicated/colocation pricing 2004–2007 — managed dedicated $250–$1,400/month; budget $89–$199; 1U colo ~$50/month","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"pre-cloud-sysadmin-wages-bls-2024","title":"Network & Computer Systems Administrator BLS median: ~$51K–$58K (early 2000s, needs-verification) rising to $96,800 (May 2024)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"cognito-firebase-auth-2014","title":"Amazon Cognito and Firebase Auth — 2014-era managed identity peers to Auth0","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"custom-web-portal-build-cost-ranges-2025","title":"Custom web portal build cost (2025/2026): entry $20k–$40k, mid $40k–$80k, enterprise $80k–$400k; GoodFirms range $10k–$200k","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"custom-client-portal-build-cost-spp-2025","title":"SPP (2025): custom client portal $20k–$50k initial development + $10k–$25k/yr maintenance; Agency Handy $25k–$60k all-in over 6–12 months","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"custom-dashboard-cost-kavara-80-250k","title":"Custom dashboards/analytics apps: $80,000–$250,000 depending on real-time/data-source complexity (Kavara)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}],"incoming":[{"slug":"research-brief-falling-cost-floor-real-web-functionality-smb-june-2026","title":"Research brief: the falling cost floor of \"real\" web functionality for SMBs (June 2026)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"rule-keep-ai-coding-at-the-margin-not-as-spine","title":"R2 — Keep AI-assisted coding at the margin; it lowers assembly labor recently but is not a structural driver","kind":"rule","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"rule-flag-vendor-incentive-on-cost-claims","title":"R6 — Flag the vendor incentive on every cost claim — AWS price-cut count, SaaS build-vs-buy ranges, agency portal estimates","kind":"rule","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}]},"created_at":"2026-06-21T13:17:00.692Z","updated_at":"2026-06-21T13:17:00.692Z"}