I find this statement kind of incredible when the solution for the terrible I/O of EC2 is to spin up ranks and ranks of virtual machines, trying to make up the difference in aggregate. That is efficiency?

When I have a problem with I/O, I improve I/O: A gorgeous cluster of Nimble SANs with some supporting local Fusion IO cards. When I have a problem with memory or caching servers, I add memory or caching servers (just got a relatively low cost dev server with 192GB...just incredible). When I need more processing power, I add more processing power. Just added some Xeon E5s to the mix, and boy do they set new thresholds of power.

That's the world of controlling my own hardware.

This story is really one about restrictions forcing a more efficient platform. Yet you don't need restrictions to have an efficient platform, and the two are only loosely correlated. This is the story of the alcoholic cheering on prohibition without which they couldn't contain themselves.