In this web content, the author discusses the impact of the S3 service on the modern data stack. They highlight how S3 revolutionized data storage by allowing for the storage of large amounts of data at a low cost. The author mentions that one common use case for S3 is to stage data, where data is collected and stored for further processing. They also mention the issue of high data transfer costs with S3, speculating that AWS uses this as a lock-in mechanism. The author praises Cloudflare’s alternative service, R2, which they claim offers better pricing and does not charge for data egress. They emphasize the importance of cloud neutrality in the AI space and express surprise that R2 hasn’t been widely adopted. The author suggests that companies could take advantage of the price differential offered by R2 to build new business opportunities.
https://dansdatathoughts.substack.com/p/from-s3-to-r2-an-economic-opportunity