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Re: [Xen-users] SPEC VIRT

On Fri, 3 Nov 2006, Tim Post wrote:

The fact remains that they are renting them because they are advertised
as effortless and easy and the majority just doesn't know any better.

This is where they are getting "ripped off" - not in getting shorted on resources.

Folks tend to consult the great oracle known as "Google" and seldom get
past the first 5 - 10 results. Its a growing problem, and very little to
be done about it.

I'm #12 for "xen hosting" right now... I'm fairly careful to go for the more proficent customers. Getting people that are not unix people results in headaches that are unprofitable for all involved:

"hosting services for the technically adept. At ----, we don't assume you're stupid."

I think this makes it fairly clear that I am not targeting less-technical customers; in fact, I am rather directly insulting them (perhaps unfairly; there are plenty of people that are non-technical for reasons other than lack of intelectual capacity.) they are clearly better served by application service providers. VPS providers are simply not equiped to serve non-technical customers. (I soppose you could do it if you had, say, a 20:1 customer:SysAdmin ratio, but that would get expensive fast.)

(I should probably take out the bit about being scaleable; until I solve my power problem, or until my current customers start jumping ship due to my stupid mistakes, I'm not scaling shit.)

Climbing the google results ladder is not particularly difficult; the google algorythem is rather good- if you can get yourself linked from good sites, and if your page is not too cluttered, you rise to the top fairly quickly. I've put almost zero effort into SEO, aside from keeping my markup sparse and clean, and making my <H1> tags relivant to the subject matter at hand.

I agree and like I said, if your going to drive a car you should know
how to not get ripped off by a mechanic. Same goes with a hosting
provider .. but sadly its just not the case.

I think this is more like "If you don't want to learn how to drive, you should take a a taxi. If you can't afford a taxi, take the train or the bus, or just walk." Basic UNIX is something that just about everyone could learn if they want to put in the effort. (Like driving, only a few will become experts, but most people can become adaquate.)

Not knowing how to change the oil is fine, as long as you are willing to put in the effort and expence to find a compitent mechanic; but if you don't know how to drive you are a danger to yourself and others.

There are many service providers that create products specifically for the "I don't want to be technical" market; most of them are cheaper than a VPS, as well. customers without technical interests ought to be pushed in the direction of those companies.

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