All in all, how easy is it to set up? How easy would it be with and without the EC2 hosted controller? I've never worked with that before. Anyway, the place I'm installing the system can easily stick a computer somewhere, so I won't need to host it. I'm assuming that would be pretty straightforward. Did you find it fairly simple to set up? I imagine it's harder than setting up your average router, but how much more so?
I do have experience with other cloud hosting services, but this was my first time working with EC2. It was very simple, but requires a basic understanding of setting DNS records to do it right. Since a working image with the controller software was provided already, there is no need to work with the Linux command line and install anything. You just need to install the image, give it a static IP, and optionally point a DNS A-record to it for a domain name.
The controller software obviously has a Windows and OS X version. You could easily use those options for something on-site, but I have no experience with it. Thinking logically, an install with local controller should be simpler. However, I found the cloud-based install to be a piece of cake.