> [!tldr] A water fountain is a water *service*. A water bottle is a water *application*. In the realm of [[Enterprise Architecture]] and modeling (in particular [[Archimate]] modeling), the term "Service" carries a specific meaning that's somewhat abstract and hard to explain. I accidentally described the difference between a *service* and an *application* to my 5 year old when he asked about why other kids didn't bring water bottles to the childcare center at our gym. The water fountain is available for anyone to use. They don't need to bring their own water and water bottle; and they get to enjoy having access to water. Choosing to use the water fountain is convenient. You don't have to manage your own stuff. You don't even have to *own* your own stuff. But [[Tradespace|everything is a trade off]]. If you don't want to go where the water fountain is, tough luck. If you don't like the temperature or taste of the water, too bad. In a world where a water fountain cost money to use, you'd be paying per use. # In case it's not clear - Water Fountain = hosting a database on Amazon Web Services - Water Bottle = putting a database on your own server and managing it **** # More ## Source - self