Why we don't run our systems "In the Cloud"

I occasionally get questioned about our choice to run our own network and servers when we could outsource it all to a "cloud" provider like Amazon and thus save a lot of money while simultaneously improving the reliability of our service. I hate this question because it is loaded, and I know they are not likely to understand why we can't run on a cloud service no matter how patiently I try to explain the technical issues.

Anyway, Amazon's EC2 cloud systems are now apparently dropping packets and having network latency issues. People running near real-time applications like gaming and VoIP are not having a happy time and they are apparently scrambling all around trying to figure out why their services are going to crap and, all the while, Amazon says there is no problem. I imagine that these folks did not get an SLA from Amazon with respect to network performance.

Whocouldaknown?

Link: Are spot instances killing the performance of Amazon EC2? - Seldo.com