Recently in Hosting Category
We've just revamped the VPS hosting site to make the order process a bit simpler.
We know it doesn't display properly in Safari, but this will be fixed.
We know it doesn't display properly in Safari, but this will be fixed.
While I was away over the last few days in London that does not mean that I was either out of "the loop" or that emails didn't stop arriving!
This weekend's Computers in Business supplement with the Sunday Business Post contains three mentions of us:
This weekend's Computers in Business supplement with the Sunday Business Post contains three mentions of us:
- My monthly column
- The annual hosting report
- The wiki infamy thing was picked up by them and is on the inside back page, even if they got the cartoon character wrong
Steve Jobs has Fake Steve Jobs. Shel Israel has a puppet. Paul Walsh has Walsh Watch.
It seems I've now got the next best thing - my own "wikipedia" page courtesy of Mr Eoin Costello. (He was in the news earlier this week when his hosting company was swallowed up)
I must say I am impressed. I didn't realise that Eoin was such a talented wit and not a bad graphic artist either.
It must have taken a couple of hours to put it all together. So maybe we'll see more of these little works of art now that he isn't distracted by his "booming" business.
Of course if he'd spent more time on his business maybe he would still be a "player" and not another footnote ...
Here's a screenshot of the page in case Mr Costello removes it.
It seems I've now got the next best thing - my own "wikipedia" page courtesy of Mr Eoin Costello. (He was in the news earlier this week when his hosting company was swallowed up)
I must say I am impressed. I didn't realise that Eoin was such a talented wit and not a bad graphic artist either.
It must have taken a couple of hours to put it all together. So maybe we'll see more of these little works of art now that he isn't distracted by his "booming" business.
Of course if he'd spent more time on his business maybe he would still be a "player" and not another footnote ...
Here's a screenshot of the page in case Mr Costello removes it.
We finally launched our VPS hosting plans about 20 minutes ago.
You can now choose between Centos or Windows Server 2003 powered VPS with optional Plesk!
Paul and I had been working on ironing out the last few bugs and annoying issues on the site for most of this evening, which is why I still haven't eaten anything (not that I can't go without food for a few days - I have plenty of surplus!)
There are probably issues, typos and other errors on the site which we haven't spotted, so if you do notice anything odd please let us know: management@blacknight.com OR simply leave a comment here.
We'll probably be making the official announcement / launch in the morning
You can now choose between Centos or Windows Server 2003 powered VPS with optional Plesk!
Paul and I had been working on ironing out the last few bugs and annoying issues on the site for most of this evening, which is why I still haven't eaten anything (not that I can't go without food for a few days - I have plenty of surplus!)
There are probably issues, typos and other errors on the site which we haven't spotted, so if you do notice anything odd please let us know: management@blacknight.com OR simply leave a comment here.
We'll probably be making the official announcement / launch in the morning
I am not happy.
Over the last two months I have spent a disproportionate amount of money on Ebay. I should be ashamed, but since that isn't likely to happen I shall condemn eBay.
Ebay - you are evil!
Why do you tempt me with cool and fun ways to spend money?
Why do you let me buy high quality goods at a fraction of their high street value?
According to my eBay control panel I've spent about EUR3000 in the last 60 days!!
What have I been buying?
1 x iMac desktop computer.
Lens for my digital SLR
Bluetooth headset for my mobile phone
Carrier bag holder (thing you hang on your kitchen door for holding plastic bags - couldn't find one in the shops...)
Batmobile - Corgi diecast models
Firewalls - well I do run a hosting company!
Over the last two months I have spent a disproportionate amount of money on Ebay. I should be ashamed, but since that isn't likely to happen I shall condemn eBay.
Ebay - you are evil!
Why do you tempt me with cool and fun ways to spend money?
Why do you let me buy high quality goods at a fraction of their high street value?
According to my eBay control panel I've spent about EUR3000 in the last 60 days!!
What have I been buying?
1 x iMac desktop computer.
Lens for my digital SLR
Bluetooth headset for my mobile phone
Carrier bag holder (thing you hang on your kitchen door for holding plastic bags - couldn't find one in the shops...)
Batmobile - Corgi diecast models
Firewalls - well I do run a hosting company!
I run a hosting company so I know all about outages and unexpected issues.
They can and will happen.
No matter what happens you will never please all of your clients. You can try, but you won't succeed. It's not that your best efforts won't be good enough, but simply that there will always be an "expectation gap". The best you can hope for is pleasing most of them most of the time.
One thing I have learnt (the hard way) is that being honest and upfront can be both painful and rewarding.
You need to swallow your pride and "eat humble pie" when you screw up.
No matter what you as the provider may think, as far as the client is concerned their little site is the centre of the universe.
You can say what you like behind closed doors, but you need to be respectful in public.
I'm not saying that we all manage to do this all of the time or that it is easy, but it's the sanest way of dealing with things.
Some providers simply don't "get" that.
And if you're feeling particularly evil check Keith's blog
They can and will happen.
No matter what happens you will never please all of your clients. You can try, but you won't succeed. It's not that your best efforts won't be good enough, but simply that there will always be an "expectation gap". The best you can hope for is pleasing most of them most of the time.
One thing I have learnt (the hard way) is that being honest and upfront can be both painful and rewarding.
You need to swallow your pride and "eat humble pie" when you screw up.
No matter what you as the provider may think, as far as the client is concerned their little site is the centre of the universe.
You can say what you like behind closed doors, but you need to be respectful in public.
I'm not saying that we all manage to do this all of the time or that it is easy, but it's the sanest way of dealing with things.
Some providers simply don't "get" that.
And if you're feeling particularly evil check Keith's blog
I've got a very long todo list this week - keep an eye on the company blog for updates!
I see Stephen McCarron from Hosting365 has finally started a blog. Will he keep it up??
It seems that LetsHost don't like anyone to mention the fact that they use slow servers in the US... Mention it and they cut you off! How charming! If we cut off every single person who said "nasty" things about us we'd be out of business!!
Seemingly you need to be a Postgrad to read this site!
I see Stephen McCarron from Hosting365 has finally started a blog. Will he keep it up??
It seems that LetsHost don't like anyone to mention the fact that they use slow servers in the US... Mention it and they cut you off! How charming! If we cut off every single person who said "nasty" things about us we'd be out of business!!
Seemingly you need to be a Postgrad to read this site!
I'm back in the office this morning and trying to catch up on emails etc.,
If you've emailed me in the last week or so and haven't got a reply now you know why :)
Of course if your email didn't have a semantic subject line I probably won't find it ever - sorry!
I've also got a bit tired of clients being negatively affected by Wordpress' dumb caching (or simple lack of it!) which has led to this.
All I'll say is this. When this site made it onto the frontpage of Digg the server barely flinched. If I'd been using a default install of Wordpress the site would have taken out the entire server...
If you've emailed me in the last week or so and haven't got a reply now you know why :)
Of course if your email didn't have a semantic subject line I probably won't find it ever - sorry!
I've also got a bit tired of clients being negatively affected by Wordpress' dumb caching (or simple lack of it!) which has led to this.
All I'll say is this. When this site made it onto the frontpage of Digg the server barely flinched. If I'd been using a default install of Wordpress the site would have taken out the entire server...
Over the past couple of years I've deal with Vito from DemoDemo quite a bit. He's a cool guy and their demos have saved us a fortune!
Earlier this evening he sent a lot of his clients an email which really caught my attention.
They're celebrating 5 years in business this month so he's offering a "set your own price" deal! Basically you hop over to their hosting tutorials page. Choose what you want to order and then send them an offer.
Interesting marketing tactic to say the least! I hope it doesn't backfire on him :)
Earlier this evening he sent a lot of his clients an email which really caught my attention.
They're celebrating 5 years in business this month so he's offering a "set your own price" deal! Basically you hop over to their hosting tutorials page. Choose what you want to order and then send them an offer.
Interesting marketing tactic to say the least! I hope it doesn't backfire on him :)
If you're a bit of a geek you might appreciate the photos I posted on the company blog:
Loads of boxes from Dell
More stuff from Dell
Loads of boxes from Dell
More stuff from Dell
