> You really should take the time to learn how to build your own server cluster.

Not sure where I mentioned that I don't how to do that. But thanks?

> The savings is exponential.

For a lot of start-ups rolling their own infrastructure is generally a giant waste of time and money in both short and long term run.

Savings? What things do you add up, or forget to add up, to come to that conclusion?

The control is complete, as is the obliteration of your infrastructure and/or your data. Because let's face it, unless you invest the same millions(in money and hours) as Rackspace(or any equivalent company), the odds are against you :)

The knowledge is indeed priceless, if you're into that sort of thing. Some people just need to host their application... reliably.

Sorry but that's like saying building a nuclear power plant to power your christmas tree in your apartment is a good idea. I agree it can be nice to learn these things but in a mission critical environment you should focus your time on what adds real value to your customers. Unless you're building the next AWS or Rackspace doing these things yourself and saving $50.00 a month is not the right place to focus your efforts.

Part of the problem is that the responsibility is also complete. And the management overhead at small scale can be pretty significant. Redundant power/networking, backups, etc.