Funny, I always use Slicehost as the example of a non-commoditized hosting arrangement: back when you could get disk space and terabytes of (gratuitously oversold and capriciously available) bandwidth for $2 a month, they charged ten times that for 256 MB of RAM that would actually be there when you wanted to use it, plus really outstanding support and reliability. Some years later they've got competition in their space, but I still see outstanding support and reliability.
I wouldn't mind an extra gig of RAM and a pony but I'm not fixing to move anytime soon.
Have fun! I am going to take my virtual disk image to another service, and then switch back to Slicehost when they decide to start competing again. :)
I didn't mean "commoditized" in a bad way, I mean in the sense that Slicehost is doing something that a hundred of other companies are doing as well (running Xen or equivalent on a datacenter and selling virtual computers). It is easy to benchmark and scientifically see which service outperforms another on any given metric.
There is absolutely no reason to stick with Slicehost when you can switch to another datacenter in under an hour, and then switch back the week after if you'd like (prorated, of course).
You really should try out linode for a day and even if it comes out equal to slicehost in the end you really have no reason not to switch as it will get you more for the same price. (Unless of course your server setup is so immensely complicated that you can't afford the time it would take to setup a new one.)
Its a question of priorities: I pay $150 a month for hosting. Next to my sales, that's mouse droppings. Getting an extra 512 MB of RAM or 1 GB of RAM at the same price is pretty meaningless to me: the app runs. Running on more RAM will not help me sell more software.
Hypothetically saving $50 a month on hosting is also less than motivating to me -- "Try a new host out for a day" means I lose a day that could be sent implementing things that will increase the amount of software I sell in a scalable fashion. For example, A/B testing (or SEO, or writing better email copy, or...). Note that future improvements to cost reduction are not multiplicatively effective but future A/B tests (etc) are. (Saving $50 on hosting costs is a one-off improvement -- it doesn't make my next improvement more effective. Increasing conversions by 1.3% anywhere in my funnel right now would make me about $50 a month. A 1.3% lift does make my next improvement more effective because funnel conversions are essentially multiplicative: 10% improvement at gate A and 10% improvement at gate B means 21% improvement total, not 20%. Most of you probably already know this but if it is news to you bookmark this factoid and come back to it later because it is really freaking important.)
Getting an extra 512 MB of RAM or 1 GB of RAM at the same price is pretty meaningless to me
I wouldn't mind an extra gig of RAM and a pony
The second statement highlighted is why I said you should try linode for a day. To clarify what I meant is you should try linode out (not as a production server) but to see if you can use it the same for that extra gig of ram for the same cost or less with minimal effort.
I really wasn't trying to say it would save you money in the end or that it would help sell software as you seem to think.
Edit: and btw your Buy Now button is still really hard to see as I commented before
I really wasn't trying to say it would save you money in the end or that it would help sell software as you seem to think.
I think you might be missing the point here. If it does not in fact save significant money or help sell software--he's not interested.
I have a (currently underused) slicehost account. In my opinion these guys have historically been known for awesome customer service. They need to continue to do that, and not try to compete on price. I am not optimistic about their ability to deliver amazing service after the Rackspace acquisition, though.
Funny, I always use Slicehost as the example of a non-commoditized hosting arrangement: back when you could get disk space and terabytes of (gratuitously oversold and capriciously available) bandwidth for $2 a month, they charged ten times that for 256 MB of RAM that would actually be there when you wanted to use it, plus really outstanding support and reliability. Some years later they've got competition in their space, but I still see outstanding support and reliability.
I wouldn't mind an extra gig of RAM and a pony but I'm not fixing to move anytime soon.