1. A method for providing a service in a distributed system, comprising: collecting capability information reflecting a current operating condition of a compute resource, wherein the compute resource comprises a computer system; determining a measurable capability value for a depletion-oriented characteristic of the computer system based on the collected capability information; determining a platform capability for the computer system; determining a capability value for the computer system based on at least one of the platform capability and the measurable capability value, wherein the capability value reflects an overall ability for the compute resource to provide the service based on at least one of the platform capability and the measurable capability value and the overall ability for the compute resource reflected in the capability value is directly proportional to a fluctuation of the depletion-oriented characteristic; providing the capability value to a provision manager that designates the computer system as an available resource in the distributed system based on the capability value; providing software for the service on the computer system in the distributed system; dynamically instantiating a Service Level Agreement manager on the computer system upon said providing software for the service, wherein the Service Level Agreement manager ensures that minimum capabilities defined in the Service Level Agreement are maintained; wherein the provision manager determines whether the compute resource is to be designated an available resource in the distributed system based on the capability value and another capability value associated with another compute resource included in the distributed system; and providing the service by the computer system to a requesting entity based on a determination from the provision manager that the compute resource is more capable of providing the service than another compute resource included in the distributed system.