My Microsoft friends are A LOT happier -- they have a much more balanced schedule, are not expected to be available on a moments notice and feel much more relaxed at their job. The friends I know at Amazon are very rarely off at a normal time, have a lot more pressure from the higher ups and have to regularly take high quantities of "on call" work.
As far as I know, this isn't as bad as everyone tends to think. I kind of accept it along with the engineering culture- I prefer to be responsible for my projects rather than wait til 9am to put out fires. But I may be biased as a young, single, and so very poor student considering working for Amazon. If anyone has a better idea of the work/life balance at Amazon, I'd be grateful to hear more.
aaronbrethorst hit the nail on the head- there is a definite benefit to starting at a large software company. For me and my friends whom are looking for our first FTE positions, startups are daunting due to impostor syndrome. In my case, I don't know if I am skilled enough to jump right into a niche startup and be relied upon so heavily to ship. Amazon, Microsoft, etc provide a great place to learn from very intelligent people in the industry.
I think as my specific social circle is reaching the twilight of our 20s, those environments are less and less appealing for a lot of us but a few wouldn't trade it for the world.
I could direct some snark at each bullet point, but they're sufficiently ridiculous that instead I'll give my reasons for not regretting my four years and two days of being a blue badge:
* Brand names are useful: when you're interviewing for your second job, no one will have ever heard of fribble.com (or whatever), but they'll know Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Apple, Facebook, etc.
* I met a huge number of people in a very short amount of time. The connections I made at Microsoft are still paying off today in terms of friendship, jobs, and intros.
* Relocation benefits are awesome. I grew up and went to school in Minnesota, and when I was hired by Microsoft, they paid for all of my relocation expenses. The odds of finding a startup that can/will do this are probably low.
* You'll be able to appreciate just how green the grass on the other side really is. Seriously: the amount of bureaucracy and political infighting can be stultifying. Understanding what you don't want out of the rest of your career is just as important as knowing what you want, in my opinion.
* "Our career paths provide clear steps for success" is silly, but the odds are that you'll never have a manager in a small company who is invested in growing your skills. Having some structure for a couple years to get this was useful for me.
Edit: one more:
* "Microsoft is getting ready to launch some of the most exciting products you’ve seen yet" is also silly, since the odds of you working on one of the 'cool' projects is incredibly low, but there is a lot to be said for the fact that millions of people will use the software you help create. My work on Visual Studio impacted every single user every day, which is ridiculously cool and humbling.