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Akamai to Acquire Linode

akamai.com

11–20 of 336 posts

Re: Akamai to Acquire Linode

#11
How does DigitalOcean compare to Linode these days? One thing I noticed off the bat is that Linode still offers phone and email support, versus just a ticketing system interface.

Re: Akamai to Acquire Linode

#12
I really hope Linode stays available self-serve, even if it transitions to an Akamai hostname for server management. The current Akamai availability is super limited and you'll often need to give them a call if you want to run any regular traffic through them or use a product not included in the free trial of their services.

Re: Akamai to Acquire Linode

#15
post #11

How does DigitalOcean compare to Linode these days? One thing I noticed off the bat is that Linode still offers phone and email support, versus just a ticketing system interface.

And they answer the phone.

I've called their support line many times to report business-impacting issues, and they always answer within seconds (literally), provide competent support, follow-up, and genuinely care. Linode support may be better than Amex Platinum Card support. :-)

Re: Akamai to Acquire Linode

#16
One dying company absorbing another dying company.

Linode has really gone down the tubes. Just try to find out what the prices are for their services. Or how to actually use any of the services they provide besides a VM instance. Can you find the magical documentation site without Google? I couldn't. And pricing for some services requires you to sign up for an account and attempt to deploy the service, or you have to go through a "professional services" team for a "quote".

DigitalOcean and AWS don't have a problem directing users toward product information or docs, and they provide a simple web UI to use all their services. But Linode can't seem to grasp it, after years of trying to roll out a new web UI. Rather than provide you simple managed services wrapped around specific technology, they provide "scripts" you can execute as a single VM boots up. They can't even show you how to create a VPC without burying it 4 levels deep in a drop-down menu of a specific linode created in a specific region.

I got so fed up with it that I moved my one remaining linode off to DO. Not only do they have more services in more regions, but I can actually find the information I need to make changes.

Re: Akamai to Acquire Linode

#17
I think this is Akamai figuring out they need to address the self-serve market.

Akamai has 6x the edge network footprint of Cloudflare and has all the cool trendy stuff like edge workers, they just suck at selling to the developer.

Re: Akamai to Acquire Linode

#19
post #11

How does DigitalOcean compare to Linode these days? One thing I noticed off the bat is that Linode still offers phone and email support, versus just a ticketing system interface.

I tried DO after using Linode for a few years, and DO felt more polished and streamlined. DO's docs are great, too. But I honestly have no complaints with Linode. Note that I'm just running Nginx on a $5/mo VPS.

Re: Akamai to Acquire Linode

#20
I had a sour taste from what I remember being misleading communication around very serious control plane hacks of linode.

A lot of bitcoin theft in 2012 (maybe by their own staff?)

2013 some kind of cold fusion / HTP hack

Another CF / HTP hack here.

2014 brought the MySQL server no password stuff.

2015 ish some kind of total root compromise?

You can get a feel for all this here including the denials / lack of notification.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10845985

Maybe 2016 same issue?

https://www.zdnet.com/article/cloud-firm-linode-resets-user-...

Not a company I'd put much actual production onto. Imagine if AWS had a hacker running around with total root access, able to reset MFA tokens to their own etc with no notice to customers. I'm not even sure such root access exists on AWS.

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