Holding the bits gives you so many more options with regards to spontaneous changes in service quality. As a nearby comment alludes to, you don't have to deal w

Holding the bits gives you so many more options with regards to spontaneous changes in service quality. As a nearby comment alludes to, you don't have to deal with all the BS that comes with renting. It is saddening to think that people find this kind of impermanence acceptable; they even defend it! (Of cour$e they do) Edit: to be fair, it's nice to be in control of the bits, whether you use them internally or offer them as a service... but as a user it is frustrating to see what used to be a DIY world turn into this... sort-of stucco skyscrapers we call "the cloud" (And it is especially obnoxious to watch companies sell them the cloud, as if it were so unobtainable in the past... but of course there's money to be made in new markets, so onward!)