Tech Horror Codex: Vendor Lock‑In

#devops #cloudcomputing #infosec #sre

The API is a leash. The dashboard is a cage.

Every technologist has felt it.

That moment when you realize the platform you chose for convenience has quietly become the platform you depend on.

Not because it’s the best.

Not because it’s the cheapest.

Not because it’s the most elegant.

But because leaving would cost more than staying.

That’s the quiet horror of Vendor Lock‑In.

It doesn’t arrive with alarms or outages.

It arrives with comfort—the most dangerous architecture of all.

The Horror of the Golden Cage

Vendor lock‑in is rarely a trap built of malice.

It’s a trap built of features.

A proprietary API that “saves time”
A dashboard that “simplifies everything”
A managed service that “just works”
A pricing model that “scales with you”
A migration tool that “is coming soon”

Every convenience is a tether.

Every abstraction is a chain.

You don’t notice the cage until you try to leave.

The Illusion of Choice

The industry loves to talk about “multi‑cloud,” “portability,” and “interchangeable services.”

But the truth is simpler and darker:

You don’t choose your vendor.

Your vendor chooses you.

Because once your:

logs
metrics
IAM roles
secrets
pipelines
dashboards
automations
workflows
billing structures

…are woven into a single provider, you’re not a customer anymore.

You’re an inhabitant.

The Ritual of Dependency

Vendor lock‑in isn’t a technical problem.

It’s a ritual problem.

You perform the same actions, in the same UI, with the same mental models, until the platform becomes a worldview.

You don’t just use the service.

You think in its language.

That’s the real lock‑in.

Not the data.

Not the APIs.

Not the pricing.

The cognitive architecture.

Codex Entry: Vendor Lock‑In

The API is a leash.

The dashboard is a cage.

The feature is a tether.

The contract is a spell.

And every technologist becomes a resident of the system they once believed they controlled.

This is the horror of modern platforms:

You don’t escape the cage by opening the door.

You escape by unlearning the architecture.

Motif Echo: Artifact (Vessel Class)

To anchor this Codex entry in physical form:

The API Is a Leash

→ Realized as a 15 oz white Vessel

A containment object for technologists who understand that every integration is a tether, every dependency is a constraint, and every “open” interface hides a boundary.

https://bit.ly/49cPlKV

→ Explore the motif in wearable form

https://bit.ly/4aXW5iz

Not merch.

A reminder.