Please see the most recent updates in the "Where did the .com name go?" thread. Posts number 16 and 17.
We run two main servers that provide over 11 Tera-bytes of bandwidth of files and data a month. Each of those servers run 8 processors, with 32 gigs of RAM on each. Our MySql database is over 7 gigs in size.
We have looked at those "cloud" systems and at a minimum, they would quadruple our costs (at a minimum and actually it could be five to six times more or greater). Each month we would be unable to predict what our final cost would be because of their variable pricing due to bandwidth and other charges. Our advertising and donations do not pay our costs now. Doing that would just cause us to shut the doors sooner than later.
Go to the MS Azure site and price out a comparable Linux based system. When I looked, their Linux based solution was over $4,000 a month before you priced in bandwidth and database size. Factor in 11 Tera-bytes a month and the size of the database and I shudder to think what the monthly cost would be. I can say this with certainty... The community would not be willing to pay for it, that's for sure.