1. A method for providing a service in a distributed system, comprising: collecting capability information reflecting a current operating condition of a compute resource; determining a measurable capability value for a depletion-oriented characteristic of the compute resource based on the collected capability information; determining a platform capability for the compute resource; determining a capability value for the compute resource based on at least one of the platform capability and the measurable capability value; and providing the capability value to a provision manager that is capable of determining whether the compute resource is to be designated an available resource in the distributed system based on the capability value.