Unpacking Basecamp's Exit From the Cloud

A Deep Dive into the Realities of On-Prem Versus Cloud Computing

Talofa reader,

I don't know what made me think of this the other day. I mean, I work in cloud, so naturally, I'm going to think about cloud infrastructure.

I think about how it works and who it benefits.

But recently, I started wondering why some people don’t want to move to the cloud. I even wondered about those who tried cloud services, gave them a fair shot, and then concluded, "Nah, this is a scam. Everybody needs to get OUT!"

I guess, as an AWS Solution Architect, I'm expected to be gung-ho about the cloud. This enthusiasm is more or less a given.

Even before joining AWS, I had very few complaints about the technology. It’s always been the front-runner in my experience. However, I believe it's crucial to challenge our own arguments and beliefs and ask the counter questions:

Why even go to cloud?

As soon as I starting thinking about arguments "against" cloud computing DHH’s controversial "cloud exit" article came to mind!

What am I talking about?

In June 2023, Daniel Heinemeier Hansson (aka DHH) famously wrote a post titled "We have left the cloud". He detailed ¹ migration off public cloud infrastructure.

He also discussed the reasons, benefits, and advantages they gained from the move.

Cloud computing offers many benefits, including cost savings, operational excellence, and security. However, if it's not meeting your needs, it's necessary to make a change. Right?

In his piece, DHH talks about Basecamp's decision to leave cloud services behind. He highlights the cost savings, the improved performance of their workloads, and the operational simplicity they achieved by using their own hardware. Basecamp's workloads were mostly containerized already, which made the transition smoother. They used a special mix of tools and techniques to manage these containers. This approach allowed them to “avoid the complexity of Kubernetes².”

While I think that’s great and the reasons DHH has laid out seem sound, we all know that each situation is unique.

Still, a few points from the post seemed to me like they should be taken with a generous grain of salt.