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A New More Comfortable Home for Protose

Protose | October 11, 2004 | 0 comments

If you see this post then you have reached the new server that is hosting protose.org. We decided to take the long weekend to move the website over to a new server and hosting company since over long weekends people tend to spend less time in front of the computer and more time with their families and friends (if you have been in front of your computer all weekend and have ignored your significant other consider this a hint… do what I say not what I do).

So why switch hosting companies? Was it to save a buck or two? Definitely not! I am the type of person that once something is working I take a couple steps back and I don’t touch anything in fear of braking it.

I was with my last hosting company for approximately a year now. I choose them because I meet the president at a conference and he was a really supper guy, I have a thing for being able to put a face to a company. But unfortunately, he was not the tech guy at the company and he must not have a nose for choosing good tech guys.

With their service you get the basic install of an old version of RedHat Linux and if you needed anything added it was like pulling teeth otherwise you are told to buy your own server. The fact they did not want to modify their virtual server did not bother me so much. It was the fact that every time I submitted a support ticket it would take a minimum of 24 hours to get a response with the average response time being 30 hours. If I submit a ticket on the weekend forget about it. I would have to wait until late Monday. That is just not acceptable especially if I just want a new mySQL DB.

I am a very loyal client so I said to myself maybe if I just get a dedicated server with this company everything will work out. I email the president for info about getting a dedicated server. He responds a day later with a one sentence reply telling me it will cost me $150US/month. I email him back asking him if that is the best price and what I get for that price and 5 days later I still did not get a reply.

I decided someone else deserved my loyalty. I am addicted to blog reading and on Macromates blog, the company that makes TextMate, they mention that they are really happy with TextDrive as a hosting company. This is not the first time I heard of people talk about TextDrive so I decided to check them out.

When you first land on TextDrive’s website you get the impression that it might not be complete because there is not much there. But if you start reading you will realize there is much more at TextDrive then at all other hosting companies that just give you marketing speak. The first paragraph on there website sums it up best:

“TextDrive is a hosting company run by and for people who love publishing on the web.”

And it shows.

Check out the “plans” as well as the “specs and details”. I don’t need to even ask them to make modifications to their servers to handle any of my present and future requirements. They offer everything that I presently need as well as need for upcoming versions of the website. You really have to check it out to believe it. They did not just put together a basic hosting solution and as time goes on they are going to fix it (build and fix model)… it is like they really took the time to engineer a solution. That is refreshing for the engineers out there like me who really hate the web-hosting industry as a whole.

But of course anyone can write something down on a website. My problem with the last company was not so much their offerings but the fact I did not feel they were working with me to help me build my websites but working against me. So I said to myself, I am going to send an email using their “contact us” form and if I get a response within four hours and I like the response I will take the long weekend to switch. Within fifteen minutes not only did I get back a response to my email, I got a very friendly and elaborate response… it was like they cared! I must of emailed the company another 6-7 times before and after signing up to their service with an average response time of approx. 30 minutes. Even at midnight on Saturday, once one of the tech support guys even emailed me from IKEA to tell me he would take care of my issue once he got back home… feedback… what a beautiful thing. Their responses are not cold either… they talk to you like you are their friend… not just a customer. Now that is refreshing.

If Xzibit of MTV’s “Pimp My Ride” was to pimp out a server it would look just like TextDrive’s servers. So if you are a geek and would like to host your website on a geeked out server checkout TextDrive. Tell them that Protose sent you!

(note: Protose is a full paying member of TextDrive. We get absolutely no discount or get any money if anyone signs-up to any of their services. We just like to praise those that deserve to be praised and let me tell you… not many companies deserve it!)

Sorry there has not been that many posts directly on software engineering lately. We have been trying to balance growth and articles. But stay tunned. We have some good things planned for the upcoming weeks. Now back to your regularly scheduled program.

Related Links:

• Hosting: TextDrive
• Macromates - makers of TextMate
• MTV: Pimp My Ride

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