Thanks a lot!

The article I've linked about Walmart talked about Azure costs. So I'd say that yes, MS mostly manages the systems for them.

Also, they need some of those hyperscale goodies as they need to work with load spikes e.g. on a Black Friday.

I agree with this, I see the AD as critical. Do you please have a source for these numbers? Would love to include it in the article.

Fair point.

If you take it directly on a Walmart scale, then I'll argue that you can't outcompete Microsoft. Note that you need to bring your own ID, Auth, Office, desktop system, etc.

If you have a smaller scale, then you've invested less resources into MS therefore you have a lesser budget to work with.

I've never thought about the parallel with terrorism and now I can't unsee it.