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This is totally true, but at the same time, given the success and scale of AWS, it's insane that they would not have the resources they need.

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Word in the industry is that AWS is insanely profitable, so they've got not problem finding the money to hire the help.

My gripe with EBS is that hiccups in EBS cause my Linux instances to "lock up", consume 100% CPU and become unresponsive. AMZN is providing their own Linux distribution and drivers for the EBS devices so they can also attack this problem by patching the Linux kernel.

If you switch to their distribution, do you get any benefit now?

Compatibility with the platform is excellent and it's comfortable for anyone who's familiar with Red Hat or Fedora.

I'd compile my own web server stack, but it's as good a foundation to build on as any Linux distribution.

The hiring market is very competitive right now. It is hard for Amazon (or anyone) to hire good engineers. I think this is exacerbated by Amazon's lack of perks. My opinion is that if Amazon wants to hire the best of the best to work on AWS products they need to stop being so cheap ("frugal") and match the perks (and pay) other software companies offer.

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