[meroliph]

Of course it can, given how many useful open source solutions are available nowadays.

Considering the total cost of 6000$ for a single server, you would be dropping 12k from the get-go for two servers (though you should really lease over a 12 month period if you can't afford it) and then you need to add colo costs for the machines, which can be around 300-400$ per machine in a single unit colocation environment, depending on your location. This brings us to 21600$ in the first year for two machines colocated in separate datacenters, without any sysadmin costs;

The article states S3 would cost 60,000$ per year, and this doesn't include any bandwidth costs, whereas the colocation setup would include some decent bandwidth per month. Over time, it's easy to see how a lot of money can be saved.

Also, S3 is designed for 99.99% availability, but they only guarantee 99.9% through SLA, which isn't extremely spectacular. Hitting 99.9% isn't particularly hard if you have a sys admin worth his salt to set things up right, and with your own solution you can have more direct access to the file system as well as the ability to adhere to any regulations.