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DreamHost is now part of the Endurance International Group!


When we started DreamHost in 1997 we had two goals in mind.

1. Get chicks.

Hot chicks!

2. Get rich.

So rich!

Most of us have taken care of number one.

Number two has proven to be slightly more elusive.

It’s been a little harder to push out, you might say.

For the past decade or so a little-known entity called the Endurance International Group, Inc. has been quietly buying up web hosts worldwide and building a portfolio of hosting brands.

Indeed, we’ve seen many of our competitors get gobbled up by “EIG” over the years. The acquired companies usually retain their branding and avoid making any mention of EIG on their websites.

So exactly what does EIG own? As far as we could tell (from this list and in chats with various sales teams), 37 web host brands. Maybe more.

Collectively they represent an enormous customer base and may even make EIG the largest “hosting company” in the world.

AccountSupport
ApolloHosting
BizLand
BlueDomino
BlueHost
DomainHost
Dot5Hosting
Easy CGI
eHost
EntryHost
FastDomain
FatCow
FreeYellow
Globat
HostCentric
HostMonster
HostYourSite
HyperMart
IMOutdoorsHosting
iPage
Ipower
IPowerWeb
Justhost
Netfirms
Networkshosting
PowWeb
PureHost
ReadyHosting
Spry
StartLogic
USANetHosting
VirtualAvenue
VPSLink
WebHost4Life
Webstrikesolutions
Xeran
YourWebHosting

Some you’ve never heard of. Some you definitely have. Some were large. Some were tiny. It makes no difference to the insatiable maw of the Endurance International Group! They’re like a scrap metal magnet for web hosts! (Or wrecking ball, depending on who you ask…)

Turns out the real things are trademarked.

And while EIG and others have certainly approached us regarding a buyout in the past, the money has never really been good enough for us to pull the trigger.

Until now.

I’m happy to report that our key stakeholders flew out to Massachusetts last night, signed the paperwork, and it is DONE! DreamHost is now officially owned and soon-to-be operated by EIG.

They bought us for 10 times our annual revenue.
Two of our four founders will also serve on the EIG board.
Many of our employees were made into millionaires overnight.

DreamHost is the latest web host in a long line of hosts to join the EIG family.

We couldn’t be more thrilled!

SO AWESOME

DreamHost customers can expect some emails from EIG shortly that will lay out the transition process and explain how they intend to migrate our customer data over to their own unified hosting system.

This is all happening just in time, too. Do you have any idea how sick we are of doing all this? The hardware failures, the endless stream of incoming tech support, writing these insufferable blog posts…UGH.

Our web panel will unfortunately not be making the journey to EIG, so I hope you guys like cPanel!

I was sad to see it go too, but I’m staring at FIVE POINT THREE MILLION DOLLARS in my bank account right now.

Five. Point. Three. Million.

I keep refreshing my online banking just to make sure it’s still there.

Yep, still there.

So shit, cPanel for everybody!

Yeah, I said shit. What’re they going to do – fire me? Well they can’t fire me because I QUIT. I’m buying a yacht and moving to Laguna Beach.

So shit.

Shitty shit.

Also, balls.

As a DreamHost old timer I’d like to thank you for sticking with us up to this point, but I have five point three million reasons not to care what you do with your hosting anymore. HASTA LA VISTA!

We’ll be updating this post tomorrow with some additional details for DreamHost – I mean EIG – customers that should help to ensure the transition goes as seamlessly as possible.

Update 4/2: April Fool’s. :)

Filed Under: Business, Insider View, Tech News, Updates

Support for Ceph is coming!


In the world of high-capacity data storage, our open-source filesystem, Ceph, is a game-changer.

A real game changer!

And anytime anyone changes the game, people tend to get confused. And needy.

We’re pleased to announce that we’ll soon be offering advanced corporate and enterprise-level technical support for Ceph implementations.

This includes:

  • Consulting and advisory services
  • Custom Engineering
  • Design and Implementation
  • Integration into Established Infrastructure
  • Installation
  • Performance Audits
  • Onsite Troubleshooting

All this comes to you direct from the team that financed and developed Ceph!

We are currently compiling a list of potential beta participants prior to the official launch of a Ceph support offering. Please visit cephsupport.com to express your interest and we’ll contact you when things get rolling.

Full-blown Ceph support will be available later this summer.

Filed Under: Business, New Products, Tech News, Updates

Jetpack just flew in to DreamHost and boy are its thrusters tired!


Jetpack

Today Automattic launched Jetpack, a WordPress plugin that “supercharges your self-hosted WordPress site with the awesome cloud power of WordPress.com”. Their words, not ours. Hence the quotes.

Jetpack is a collection of eight plugins that together combine to strengthen the WordPress core and make it even more powerful. Think of it as an expansion pack. With jets.

DreamHost is proud to be a Jetpack launch partner!

Included in the Jetpack core:

  • WordPress.com Stats
    “Simple, concise site stats with no additional load on your server.”
  • Twitter Widget
    “Display the latest updates from a Twitter user inside your theme’s widgets.”
  • Gravatar Hovercards
    “Show a pop-up business card of your users’ gravatar profiles in comments.”
  • WP.me Shortlinks
    “Enable WP.me-powered shortlinks for all of your Posts and Pages for easier sharing.”
  • Sharedaddy
    “The most super duper sharing tool on the interwebs. Share content with Facebook, Twitter, and many more.”
  • LaTeX
    “Mark up your posts with the LaTeX markup language, perfect for complex mathematical equations and other über-geekery.”
  • After the Deadline
    “After the Deadline helps you write better by adding spell, style, and grammar checking to WordPress.”
  • Shortcode Embeds
    “Easily embed videos and more from sites like YouTube, Vimeo, and SlideShare.”

…and that’s just the start! There’s more features in the works for Jetpack.

As of about thirty seconds ago, all new WordPress installs completed with our One-Click Installer will include Jetpack by default.

Already using WordPress? No worries – Jetpack is free. You can download it right now and start using it within minutes.

SET JETS TO MAXIMUM THRUST!

That is all.

Filed Under: Business, New Features, Tech News, Updates

VaultPress is Golden!


WordPress is, some would say, the backbone of the web hosting industry.

WordPress is the backbone!

It’s extremely customizable, everybody’s heard of it, and it’s far and away the most popular application we’ve seen in use on our servers. Some people even run their entire businesses with WordPress on the back-end.

When it comes to backing up your WordPress sites and the databases behind them, you want the best of the best. You don’t want to have to do it yourself, and while your web host may offer backups (we do!), you’d still like some peace of mind to come from a higher power.

The people who brought you WordPress.com, Automattic, have heard your pleas. Introducing VaultPress!

VaultPress!

VaultPress is the most complete backup available today for a self-hosted WordPress blog or website. This means your plugins, dashboard, themes, comments, and post revisions are all safeguarded and ready to be restored.

VaultPress will monitor your WordPress site(s) continuously and store even the most minute details in its virtual vault with excruciating, bit-perfect accuracy.

VaultPress is in a limited private beta period right now so you kind of need to know someone who knows someone to get access to a golden ticket – a colorful metaphor that will grant you safe passage to the glorious promise-land of backed-up data, restful sleep, and a carefree online lifestyle. I’m of course talking about the kingdom of VaultPressia.

Luckily for you…

You've got a golden ticket...

All new WordPress installations on DreamHost (those that are completed with our one-click installer) will receive a golden ticket in their email just as soon as WordPress has been installed.

If you’ve already got WordPress installed on your DreamHost account – or even if you don’t – keep an eye on your email! If you’re on our “Promotions” mailing list you should be receiving a VaultPress golden ticket before the weekend’s over.

Once you’ve signed up with VaultPress you’ll gain access to an easily-installed plugin for WordPress. The VaultPress dashboard integrates seamlessly with WordPress’ own dashboard and the fun begins just seconds after you install it.

VaultPress’ exclusive beta pricing for services is still in effect. $15 per month (a savings of $60/yearly) gets you comprehensive backup services. $40 per month (saving $120/year!) gets you all that AND continuous security monitoring AND a bag of chips.*

Don’t let the ‘beta’ tag fool you – VaultPress is an impressive feature-rich premium-level custom-built backup solution that we feel is a perfect fit for anyone who uses WordPress. It’s a particularly good investment for anyone who relies on WordPress to help run their business.

Get started with VaultPress today!

*I lied. No chips.

Filed Under: Business, New Features, Promotions, Tech News, Updates

Ceph’s arms are growing…


Ceph

You remember Ceph, right? How could you not? It’s only the most revolutionary distributed open-source file system in the world. Surely you recall that it’s also known as the only infinitely scalable file system that’s been a part of the Linux kernel since 2.6.34? The file system that DreamHost has been working on for the last few years? That Ceph?

Of course you remember!

The code behind Ceph has been available to the general public for quite a while and we’ve gotten some good feedback on it so far…but we’re kicking things off today with an intense round of private beta testing.

A carefully selected group of power users, Internet movers-and-shakers, researchers, hardware vendors, and storage nerds of all types have been assembled from the far corners of the earth to help us put Ceph through its final stage of development – the testing phase.

We expect this closed beta to last through early November, after which point we’ll cast the net a little wider and open it up to members of the DreamHost Developer Mailing List. Now would be a great time to sign up for that if you’re looking to get in on the cutting edge of large-scale data storage.

Filed Under: Business, New Features, Tech News, Updates

iPad: iGlad or iSad?


TWO iPads? Try TWENTY.

Well, our contest should be up.

I mean, the iPad came out a week ago. And the contest said it’d end when we got 20 (16GB wifi models). So, we must have them by now.

You’d think.

Well, I’m not sure what the hold up is. I mean, *I* got one no problem on launch day. I don’t know why *YOU* guys haven’t yet. Of course, I had to pay for mine.

So don’t complain. Or if you do, don’t do it on twitter. Or if you do, don’t use the “fail”. I’m sure we’ll have our prize iPads in hand this week, and the winners will be announced soon thereafter!

In The Meantime

I thought I might as well give my early hands-on review of the device. After all, who doesn’t want to know what Internet-pundit extraordinaire Josh Jones thinks about everything?

iGlad:

* the battery does seem to last a really long time.
* and yet, it’s zippier than an iPhone 3GS… playing Katamari on it is radical.
* it’s good for games for sure. To me, Flight Control HD is worth the $503.99 all on its own!
* for now, it’s still a chick magnet.

iBad:

* I’m still a newb, but so far I still type faster on the iPhone keyboard. Grrr.
* it’s new and so are the apps .. sometimes the wifi doesn’t auto-reconnect, and sometimes apps crash.
* old iPhone apps do not all work perfectly. For example, NBA league pass crashes when trying to watch any video, and bobby universal remote doesn’t respond when you push any button.
* it’s heavier than you expect. After using it for a while, try picking up your iPhone. You’ll throw it through the ceiling.
* it’s awkward to use when sitting at a table. Or on a couch. It’s kind of hard to prop up on things… and nobody’s really going to watch an entire episode of Lost on a 1.5 pound tablet they’re holding in their hands.
* you can’t download .epub files from Safari straight into iBooks… you have to download them to your computer, import them into iTunes, then sync them with your iPad… the iPad in general still requires a real computer.
* at current prices, the magazine and newspaper apps are not too “game-changing.” They cannot charge $5 an issue for a digital version of Popular Science! Whether it’s rational or not, people feel like a sucker paying the same price for a digital periodical as they do a paper one. They won’t spend $5 on a digital issue of something they can get a year’s paper subscription of for $12.

So?

I’d say it’s definitely a “third device” .. one that’s not going to replace cell phones or laptops. At least not until somebody makes a case for it like this Lenovo thing:

This is why everybody's buying a lenovo ideapad!

That, along with multi-tasking in iPhone OS 4.0 (due in September on the iPad), could potentially make it a laptop replacement for some people. An easy-to-use, sub-two-pound, 10-hour-battery-life, instant-on laptop for $500!

Hmm, in fact, some guy’s already working on the iPad LapDock. Hopefully it isn’t going to stay made of wood?! I wouldn’t put it past him. Jackass.

But as is, the iPad is still a pretty fun gadget! I’d pretty much describe it as a “toy” for now… one your spouse, your parents, your teenage kids and your toddlers are all going to want for Christmas. And by December, the combination of new peripherals, apps, and the OS update are going to make the iPad a legit netbook killer to boot.

Speaking of New Apps

Well, it’s not exactly an App (yet), but one thing I realized about a week before the iPad launched was how perfect it was going to be for children’s books.

Thanks to the Kindle, this eBook thing is starting to take life, but so far the children’s eBook thing is stillborn, due to the Kindle’s e-ink screen. On the other hand an iPad, with it’s full-color display, multi-touch capabilities, and uncanny resemblance to every child’s favorite device, is just right for them!

Free Children's Books for the iPad!

Which is why I whipped up ePub Bud!

It’s basically “YouTube for Children’s eBooks” (right down to the logo)… which means you can use it to upload, create, and share children’s books for the iPad (or any other ebook reader that supports the open .ePub format)!

What can you do with ePub Bud?

1. Write your own children’s ebook, and illustrate it with pictures you upload or choose from 20,000 free images.. then share it with the world or just your own family!

2. Browse through thousands of free children’s books others have written or uploaded, and download them to your iPad, read them from your browser, or save them to your laptop.

3. Upload your existing ebooks in any unencrypted format and have them converted to the .epub file format for loading onto your iPad (.epub is the only format the iBooks can currently read)!

4. Mail us your physical children’s books and we’ll digitize them for free into an .epub file… the book world equivalent of “ripping” your CDs to your iPod!

5. Finally, besides rating, tagging, and commenting on books, you can even create a new “edition” of any book on ePub Bud, allowing you to edit it to your own liking. Translate it to another language, put in alternative illustrations, or just fix a typo… it’s like wikipedia meets eBooks!

So that’s it, go get you some free children’s books for the iPad today!

You don’t actually need an iPad to read or contribute. And I don’t want to ruin the surprise for you, but….. it works for non-children’s books too.

Though you might as well get an iPad now. You’ll have one by December 26th anyway.

I get my tigers and my lilys mixed up.

Filed Under: Musings, New Features, Promotions, Tech News

The fight for stable Private Servers


As I’m sure some of you have noticed, the stability of some of our PS servers has been spotty at best from roughly the end of November.  What started out as an emergency kernel upgrade to fix some pretty serious newly-released exploits turned into months of non-stop bug hunting that resulted in the discovery of not one bug as we’d originally thought, but 4!  To make matters even worse, these 4 bugs were spread across 4 completely separately distributed pieces of the kernel which meant there wasn’t really anyone outside DreamHost who’d been likely to encounter our particular group of issues.

The first symptom we noticed was some hosts (ok, a lot of hosts…on the order of 30/day) were simply rebooting themselves.  The problem here was they were rebooting themselves so quickly that most of the time they hadn’t even stored any logs related to what was going on!  After closer inspection and a bit of luck, we found the dreaded “PANIC” string in their kernel logs.  Here’s the thing: normally when a server runs out of memory, it’s a Really Bad Thing.  When you’re talking about a virtual server, however, things are a bit less “doomsday scenario”.  It turns out that the Linux-Vserver patch we were using was failing to check exactly what part of the system it was that’d just run out of memory and if any guest ran out, BOOM.  Down went the host (we have them set to automatically reboot in such cases to speed their recovery).

Incidentally, the semi-panic caused by the lack of logging for such an immediate crash prompted us to write a new system that lets us remotely log all sorts of debugging activity so we can always be sure it’ll be available for later use.  With any luck, we’ll never be delayed in our fixing of a stability issue ever again for lack of information.

So after fixing the suicidal servers we’d been dealing with (that first bug took about a week to track down and roll out fixes for), we were feeling pretty relieved.  Then we noticed that while we were no longer having 30 machines crash every day we still had 20!  CRAP, we thought, what else could be wrong here?  Thankfully it didn’t take long to see that it was a bug in one of the security-related patches we use (thanks to the new-fangled remote logging system!).  So off we go to upgrade to the latest release which already fixed the bug (how lucky was that???).  And that’s where bug #3 comes in.  In one of our average PS hosts, we almost always see around 30,000 file handles in use at any given time (a file handle is basically what’s used by an application to read from or write to anything, be it a regular file, the network, whatever the case may be).  After upgrading we noticed something weird.  After just a couple hours, file handle usage was TEN TIMES the usual.  In order to ease some aspects of management, we decided a while back to boot some of our servers off of network storage.  One of the kernel patches that makes that possible is called AUFS (Advanced Unification File System).  After much back and forth with its developer, we finally got a patch back that fixed the problem.  That took a couple more weeks (and yes, we’re moving away from that system entirely).

Phew, 3 kernel bugs.  What are the chances, right?  After all, we didn’t make THAT big a jump in order to fix the security holes.  We were feeling pretty unlucky, but at least the problems were finally behind us.

That’s when we noticed that we were still having about 10 hosts crash every day (before the upgrade we’d maybe see 2-3 crashes per WEEK).  Unlike the old crashes, we no longer saw any real pattern between the machines that were crashing and the ones that were stable.  Some used the AUFS code we thought may still be buggy, but some didn’t (the split was actually almost perfectly 50/50 every day).  All we knew for sure was that some trigger was spontaneously causing an entire machine to cease being able to process anything at all, requiring a heavy-handed reboot to fix.  We spent weeks talking with the Vserver developers, talking with our own in-house kernel developers (the guys working on the CEPH filesystem), and anyone else who would listen.  The funny thing about bugs in other peoples’ software is that no matter how much proof you give them that YOU can trigger the bug, they’re rarely willing to put too much effort into fixing it unless you can show THEM how to trigger it themselves.  After a week of late nights and little sleep, we finally came up with a reproducible method of triggering the bug (for the more technically inclined, it involved a malloc() of just a bit more memory than was available to the PS environment, followed by an fread() to fill it up and trigger an OOM).  Even with the code in hand that proved the bug was, in fact, to be found in the Vserver kernel patch (or potentially the main kernel, though we weren’t able to trigger it there) it was still another week before anyone was able to figure out exactly what was going on.  One of the things that both made it so hard to find the bug and so obvious that the bug was either in the mainline kernel or the Vserver patch was the near-complete rewrite of a lot of the code related to what happens when the server runs out of memory.  As it turns out, one of the things that the Linux kernel attempts to do when a process is killed in order to free up memory is it gives it the highest priority it can and (and this is the important part) gives it a little bit of extra memory.  Yes, when a Linux server triggers its “OMG I’m totally out of memory!” routine, it’s not actually out of memory.  And this is where the Vserver patch comes in.  The way that it’s designed, it is impossible to get that little extra bit of memory that’s sometimes required for a process to die gracefully.  What happens in that case is you suddenly have a process with access to 100% of one CPU core that simply doesn’t have anywhere to go.  Once that happens, you can pretty much say goodbye to your server (and all the Private Servers it hosts).  The solution from the patch developers?  ”Get rid of all our memory management and use the kernel’s built-in Cgroup support”.  And this is why we we really like these guys.  A lot of software developers out there would let their egos get in the way and demand to come up with their solution.  These guys were happy to say “You know what?  The kernel already has a pretty complete mechanism for just this thing and we’d hate to duplicate all the functionality.”  And in case you were wondering, Cgroups are pretty new and didn’t exist when the first Vserver patches were developed.

We’re still rolling out upgrades to some hosts on an as-needed basis, but the results are extremely promising.

Filed Under: Insider View, Musings, Rants, Tech News

The Happy DreamHost Apple-A-Day Tablet Contest!


Shouldn't you be thinking about Haiti right now?

This day has been a long time in the coming.

A long time. A long long time. A loooooooooooooooooooong long time. A looooooooooooooooooong looooooooooooooooooong loooooooooooooooong time! A really long time.

Could this be what you're going to win?

In fact, at this point I’m starting to get a little tired of hearing about it. Actually, I’ve been tired of hearing about it ever since day uno. Day ichi. Day un. Day one.

Finally, Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 will be a day that lives in infamy on the Internet.. a day in which the most annoying Internet “meme” of all time was mercifully put to rest… that’s right, today will forever more be remembered as:

An iPhone that doesn't fit in your pocket!

THE DEATH OF FAIL!

I’m not exactly sure how it started … I guess probably failblog … but it has annoyed me TO NO END when those hip, snarky, oh-too-clever-to-come-up-with-their-own-schtick, kids on “teh internets” use “fail” to mean “failure”.

Just like lolcats, it was kind of clever when the whole thing started, but now, three years on, when there are over 100 tweets a minute with “fail” in them, IT IS JUST PLAIN PATHETIC.

It’s about time somebody put their foot down.

Ah, the good old whale failure.

Introducing the Happy DreamHost Apple-A-Day Tablet Contest!

Here’s how it works:

1. The contest is open to US residents only anybody in the world (where not prohibited by law) who are not employees nor related to employees of DreamHost. No purchase necessary, you do not have to be a DreamHost customer to win.
2. You may enter the contest only once per day, starting today, January 27th, 2010…. days are counted based on the U.S. Pacific Time Zone.
3. To enter, simply post a “tweet” via twitter that includes the word DreamHost in it (upper case and content of tweet do not matter… but spelling does!).
4. The contest ends on the day we get 20 16GB Wifi iPads $10,000 worth of Apple Tablets physically in our possession. If by some miracle there ends up being no such thing as an Apple Tablet, the prize becomes $10,000 worth of whatever the hell Apple announces today instead.
5. At that time, we will randomly pick floor($10,000/$price_of_tablet)20 winners from the valid entries (we will be logging all tweets with “dreamhost” in them in the meantime) and contact them via twitter (from our @dreamhost account) to verify their eligibility.
6. And now, the final twist… a winner will be determined ineligible (and a replacement picked) if at ANY time between now and the end of the contest they have posted ANY tweet(s) with the term “fail” in it/them (or any clever alternative spelling)! “Failure” is fine. “Sucks” is fine. “Crappy” is fine. “Nightmare” is fine. Just not “fail”. Nor “#fail”. Nor even “@fail” (poor guy).

That’s it! Simple really.

In case of in-flight emergency, read sports illustrated.

So let’s put an end to the insanity, let’s use the power of Steve Jobs and the Apple hype machine to do some good, and let’s win us some iMacSlablet Pads iPads!!

(Apple is not a participant in or sponsor of this promotion.)

Update:

Okay, it’s going to be 20 of the $499 models (16G wifi-only) given away. Also note: if you don’t live in the US but give us a US mailing address when we contact you after you win, well, how are we going to know the difference? Also also note: Apparently twitter search bans some users from appearing in the results. If that’s the case with you, you’ll need to make sure your tweets have “@dreamhost” in them. Also also also note: it’s okay to use the term “fail” correctly, as in “I fail to see the point of twitter.” Also also also also note: you can now not use the term “win” either, at least not in the context “full of win”.

Update Update:

Only twitter accounts with at least two tweets from BEFORE today (January 27th, 2010) are going to be eligible to win. I’m talking to you @dreamhosttablet! Also, remember you can only enter once per day no matter how many times that day you tweet with “dreamhost” in it…. once again I’m talking to you, @dreamhosttablet!

Update Update Update:

Okay, we’ll now ship the winning iPads ANYWHERE! We just weren’t sure before if they were going to be tied to the US phone network or something. Since we’re doing the wifi-only versions, it’ll be fine… as long as you’re okay with the U.S. version (documentation, power cord, etc..). Keep in mind though, to win all your posts from now until we get the iPads must be in English only (otherwise we won’t know if you’re trying to sneak in a “fail”!) See below.

Update Update Update Update

Okay whiners, fine: you can post in any language, but your DreamHost-mentioning posts must be in English.

Hopefully the Final Update

Okay, Twitter accounts created since (or hadn’t tweeted twice before) the start of the contest are now okay. However, you may not tweet to multiple accounts in an attempt to “ballot stuff” the contest. We’re going to manually review all the winners as well as run some analysis on ALL tweets received during the contest… any fishy stuff will get you disqualified!

THE FINAL FINAL FINAL UPDATE

This contest has now ended. The iPads have arrived, winners have been announced, and 20 boxes of joy were sent worldwide. Thanks to everyone who participated.


Filed Under: Promotions, Rants, Tech News

.info .redo!


Thar be .info in them hills!

For some reason .info is the only TLD besides .com/net/org that we offer for registration (of course you can host any domain) at DreamHost.

They were just one of the first “new” TLDs I suppose. Back before we got burnt out on them all.

Of course, there were a few people who got burnt by .info domains themselves… by the .info sunrise period, more specifically. The .info registry themselves!

I just got an email this morning that Afilias (the .info registry) will be reallocating a bunch of .info domains (see the end of this post for the full list) that were somehow “incorrectly” registered during their sunrise period many years ago.

I don’t know what comprises “incorrectly” .. maybe they just mean “squattedly” but the upshot is you can now submit an application to get one or more of the domains by filling out this form and emailing it as a PDF as well as mailing a paper copy with a check for $250 to

Attn: Sunrise Reallocation RFP
Afilias Limited
c/o Afilias USA, Inc.
300 Welsh Road, Bldg 3, Ste. 105
Horsham, PA 19044
USA

by December 22nd.

You’ve got to put on the application why want the domain(s) you’re going after, and I guess they’re just going to pick whomever is most “deserving”. Or their cousin.

I just thought this was kind of interesting because Afilias is opening themselves up to a whole lotta sour grapes from all the cyber squatters who don’t get the domains they wanted. And in the end all that changes is Afilias makes a lot of $250 application fees and new and different cyber squatters get the domains!

The only way I can think of to make this fair is to just randomly assign the domains among all applications. Or, if they really want to hold editorial control over who gets them, the criteria should be that the requester already be running an active website on a similar domain, that they then agree to relinquish over to Afilias in return for the .info domain they will start using in its stead.

Then I could swap information.la for losangeles.info!

114.info
24seven.info
3bo.info
401k.info
4-best.info
4flow.info
4runner.info
88edibleoil.info
aar.info
aar-treuhand.info
abenteuer.info
abfs.info
accessgroup.info
acousticwavemusicsystem.info
acousticwavemusicsystem.info
adata.info
adizesgraduateschool.info
adizesinstitute.info
adizesusa.info
aegonassetmanagement.info
aei.info
airline.info
airzone.info
alava.info
albacete.info
alicante.info
all.info
allergy.info
allianz-arena.info
allinfo.info
almeria.info
alte-leipziger-bauspar.info
alte-leipziger-holding.info
alte-leipziger-institut.info
amade.info
ameda.info
america.info
americantower.info
americantown.info
americantowns.info
amtrack.info
anchorage.info
andalucia.info
aniscastellana.info
anis-castellana.info
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Tuz Tatz


You're not fooling anybody, beeeeeeeyottch!

Way back in March, one of our sysadmins Terri attended the Australian linux conference to give a talk about sysadminning at DreamHost as well as the open source distributed file system Sage’s been working on called Ceph!

Blah blah blah, on to the IMPORTANT stuff.

Apparently there’s some country or island or state or something next to Australia called “Tasmania”. And just like Australia, they’ve got totally fake animals and plants growing all over. The place is just lousy with them.

HIDEOUS!

ALSO apparently, one of those crazy fauna known as the “Tasmanian Devil” has started getting FACE CANCER and is now totally endangered!

When Linus Torvlads heard about this, he was so ENRAGED he decided to do something about it. In linux-speak, that means he shaved the beard off some nerd.

He also irrationally and temporarily changed the linux logo from tux to “tuz” for kernel release

This had the unintended and unfortunate side-effect of raising awareness for the SAVE THE TASMANIAN DEVIL fund.

Not to be outdone, Terri and another one of our resident nerds, Jeremy, decided to show their RAGE as well; by getting “tuz” tattoos.

Sir, you don't HAVE to be completely naked.

Terri didn't want to see that!

They also forced me to make this blog post about it as well as change the charity that we match donations to to be that same SAVE THE TASMANIAN DEVIL fund.

I said fine, but I’m waiting a couple months so it’s not so topical. And to see if those tattoos really are permanent.

Ah shit Jeremy, he did it backwards!

Oh no Terri, yours too!!

They were. So far. So, they also made me make a special sale where anybody who signs up with the promo code SAVETHEDEVIL gets $50 off PLUS we donate another $50 to save these disgusting little beasties!

HIDEOUS!

I’m enraged.

Filed Under: Insider View, Promotions, Tech News