Sorry for bringing this off-topic issue on AWS: is it possible to set hard caps on monthly spending in AWS? I just asked this [1] but didn't receive a single upvote =S. Thanks.
http://blog.bitnami.org/2011/12/monitor-your-estimated-aws-c...
[1] https://forums.aws.amazon.com/thread.jspa?messageID=249000
If this is so implausible then why can't they provide a cap? It feels to me that they are purposefully trying to capitalize on people's mistakes. Call me paranoid but it is honestly the primary reason why I've been wary to play with AWS.
My point is that it makes business sense for Amazon to lure this old-fashioned crowd, and it could do so by implementing a simple feauture such as spending control.
One thing that'd help dramatically would be exposing the various account activity and cost data via API. There's currently no API for accessing one's monthly spend to-date.
From a comment elsewhere, looks like they're sorta working on it, finally (CloudWatch metric).
Doesn't it seem bizarre to give your credit card number over and agree to pay some undisclosed sum with no cap? If it's my money and I'm paying for some nonessential service, I expect to never be surprised at how much I'm charged, even if its $10 when I expected $2.
> I'd challenge your assumption that Amazon is intentionally trying capitalize on mistakes
I actually worked at Amazon (not on AWS) and I've worked at a few other BigCo's and you might be surprised by how many things exactly like this they do have the time and desire to worry about. You have it backwards; for a company as big as Amazon it's worth paying an entire salary just to worry about things like this, since a fraction of a percent of increased AWS income will more than pay for itself. It's extremely likely they are at least trying to capitalize on people who sign up for the free tier and accidentally go over their limit, or else they would have a "trial" mode that only confirms your credit card and won't ever charge it without your approval.