You can host your email accounts on EC2, but I’d honestly recommend setting up google apps for domains which is free and gives you gmail for your own domain: http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/group/index.html

If you are interested in hosting your own email on the servers (again, not the best way to go anymore), then check out the articles on slicehost (http://articles.slicehost.com/)... they’ve got all sorts of really good stuff on there that walks you through setting various services up for many popular distros of linux.

Finally, I’d recommend slicehost or the rackspace cloud over EC2 for no other reason than cost… EC2 is awesome, but it’s a bit more expensive than those two guys. Any of the three will work great, however.

Best.
Alain

1. Both small and medium sized businesses can instantly obtain the benefits of the enormous infrastructure without having to implement and administer/run it directly. This also permits accessibility to multiple data centers anywhere on the globe means that as the need for resources increases, companies can add additional service as and when needed from the cloud computing vendor without having to pay for additional hardware.
2. Cloud computing is more environmentally friendly. Reducing the number of hardware components and replacing them with cloud computing systems reduces energy costs for running hardware and cooling as well as reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions and conserving energy. Moving applications to the cloud can potentially reduce energy costs for running and cooling hardware.
3. Cloud computing could allow you have only a small and inexpensive computer, processor and monitor in front of you. You would have no need for hard drive or a CD/DVD drive. Instead you would need only an Internet connection, which would hook you up to a central supercomputer that would host all your programs and files. This presents and advantage to both storage and security issue.
4. A Low Cost alternative to access Technology: It more like how you utilize traditional utilities like electricity, pay for what you use and pay till you use it. This in order to enable companies to save their money on important business activities. Moreover it gives small and medium businesses an opportunity to access technology as a resource.
5. In cloud computing, the infrastructure is maintained by a provider and the services are accessed by customers by way of internet using web browser. The user need not be worried about back end engineering and parameters. Besides this the user does not need to install the application on his system, saving him from the trouble of software maintenance, ongoing operation and support.
6. Six benefits:
a. Reduced cost: cloud technology is paid incrementally, saving organizations money.
b. Increased storage: Organizations can store more data than on private computers system.
c. Highly Automated: No longer do IT personnel need to worry about keeping software up to date.
d. Flexibility: Offers much more flexibility than past computing methods.
e. More Mobility: Employees can access information wherever they are, rather than having to remain at their desks.
f. Allow IT to shift focus: No longer to worry about constant server updates and other computing issues, Govt. organizations will be free to concentrate on innovations.
7. Instead of installing a suite of software for each computer, you’d only have to load one application. That application would allow workers to log into a web-based service which hosts all the programs the user would need for his or her job. Remote machines owned by another company would run everything from E-mail to word processing to complex data analysis programs. Due to this there is significant workload shift. Local computers no longer have to do all the heavy lifting when it comes to running applications. The network of computers that make up the cloud handles them instead. Hardware and software demands on the user’s side decreases. The only thing the user’s computer needs to be able to run is the cloud computing systems Interface Software, which can be as simple as a Web Browser, and the clouds network takes care of the rest. If you have an e-mail account with web based e-mail services like Yahoo or Gmail, here instead of running an e-mail program on your computer, you log in to a web e-mail account remotely. The software and storage for your account doesn’t exist on your computer- it’s on the service’s computer cloud.
8. It is efficient to make use of cloud computing service to provide backup and recovery. Investing in a ton of duplicate infrastructure makes no sense. The service provider can provision full features for a range of applications, with everything from e-mail to project management to typical office applications like word processors, spreadsheets etc. accessible to the user. That’s the essence of SaaS. Using these applications simply requires accessing a website, creating an account and getting to work. All information is stored in the cloud not on the machine in front of you and is secure protected and is accessible to you no matter where you are and even which device you are using. You are likely to pay a monthly service. Organizations no longer have to acquire additional hardware or hire additional staff to support their business requirements.

I think I’ll stick to localhost for now though, I switched to Mac 7 years ago for the FreeBSD underpinnings. So I can use site.dev style domains with Apache while still running Photoshop.

Personally I’m more interested in the other kind of Cloud, modern shared hosting on a giant cluster. Google App Engine (Python), Heroku (Ruby/Rails) and Rackspace Cloud Sites (PHP). I’m thinking of going the Rackspace route this weekend.

I think I’ll stick to localhost for now though, I switched to Mac 7 years ago for the FreeBSD underpinnings. So I can use site.dev style domains with Apache while still running Photoshop.

Personally I’m more interested in the other kind of Cloud, modern shared hosting on a giant cluster. Google App Engine (Python), Heroku (Ruby/Rails) and Rackspace Cloud Sites (PHP). I’m thinking of going the Rackspace route this weekend.

I think a lot of PHP developers miss out on these benefits (trying new technologies, kick-ass dev environments, etc.) simply because there’s not enough talk about it in the community… I’m happy you took the time to comment, I’m really interested in starting a general dialogue about this stuff with everyone!