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(disclosure, I work for Opscode.)

To be clear, those dependencies are required for running your own open source chef server.

You can use chef without the server, as chef-solo, or let Opscode run it for you in the form of Opscode Hosted Chef. We do make it easy to install Chef Server through Chef Solo itself, or with our Ubuntu/Debian apt repository.

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I never understood what kind of person/company would trust a hosted chef.

The chef databags/cookbooks tend to contain rather sensitive information (ssh-keys, passwords). Handing all that stuff over to a third-party borders on criminal negligence to me.

So... should nobody use ec2? Or any host for that matter? Sooner or later you're going to have to trust some third-party.

There's a difference between trusting someone with your physical hardware and handing them your credentials on a silver plate.

There's also a pretty harsh difference between the security practices at Amazon and the practices that Opscode displays in their OSS-code.

Cookbooks are accessible via your private key, which Opscode Hosted Chef does not have a copy.

You can choose to encrypt the contents of a data bag using a locally generated (on your hardware, nothing we control) key.

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