[ridruejo]

If you already qualified for the free tier, meaning that you are already enjoying it because you signed within the last year, then it still applies to you. So it also applies to existing customers (who qualify for the free tier)

[rbanffy]

I think what fierarul means is that old customers, who have been using AWS for years, don't qualify for free tier while their money is being used to pay for it.

I am not sure it makes me happy either.

[ridruejo]

I know what fierarul means, he is the one that did not understand my comment. As an aside, I find it kind of funny that people would feel "irritated" by a move like this. The end goal of this for Amazon is to eventually get more customers in the paying tiers, which in turn will lead to them lowering their costs and passing those savings to all users (like they have been doing consistently). I, for one, think it is a great way of promoting EC2 and an alternative to, say, spending that money on Google ads.

[fierarul]

Well, I am just being irritated a bit, it's not like I'm making plans to leave AWS.

It's the same feeling you have when you see your mobile provider has great offers, as long as you are a first time buyer or if you are switching providers. But existing users... not so much.

I know what the end goal is for Amazon, but in the mean time I've just paid last month about $250 to reserve an instance for an year while new users get two micro instances for free.

[rbanffy]

I completely understand why Amazon is doing it and it's certainly their cloud to promote as they see fit. In fact, I am not sure why Microsoft doesn't do that with Azure.

In any case, I am a bit sad I no longer apply to the free tier.

[PaulWaldman]

Azure does have a free 3 month trial. http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/free-trial/