4 ms·

Where's the Linode founder(s) in all this, and why couldn't they have kept customers informed? It seems like a lone network engineer has been left to deal with

by staunch 11y ago

Where's the Linode founder(s) in all this, and why couldn't they have kept customers informed? It seems like a lone network engineer has been left to deal with a potentially company destroying event.

jsmthrowaway 11y ago
I was personally in the room, and in agreement, when running a real grown-up AS with carrier transit was proposed to Chris Aker as early as 2010, maybe 2009, to avoid this very scenario and many others like it. It's not really news. I have tremendous respect for the engineer who proposed it and fully believe he could have executed on this when Linode still had four facilities and 360 MB Linodes were the norm. I'm not saying that to toot my own horn (really, I'm not "I told you so" or arrogant like that), but there are very specific reasons that this wasn't done for as long as possible. I lack recent context, but the Linode decision-making culture was for many years completely driven by one individual who worked to spend as little on infrastructure as humanly possible. Even once growth really took off and revenue started making these big shifts in strategy viable, the mindset was still to be lean and scrappy. The minimal capital expenditure strategy had benefits early on and allowed Linode to maintain an incredible margin and support explosive growth, but they were too slow to start thinking like a grown-up company when it started to matter, and it's coming back to bite both on security (with almost zero investment; just enough to pass PCI-DSS) and things like this. When I heard they bought the Philadelphia building, for example, I was very surprised because that's not the Chris I knew. We lobbied for a Philadelphia office for years. Could be a good sign regarding decision-making culture for the future, but hard to say. Don't read me as bad blood or anything, as I wish Linode no ill will (I actually hope they can turn this perceived slump around), it's just educational to see the consequences of choices and mindset catch up with a company. I learned a lot about management style while working there and contrasting with subsequent employers.
- mskaldlmk 11y ago
  > just enough to pass PCI-DSS nope, the only way Linode "pass" now is being below the self-assessment questionnaire threshold. Once they have to move to an actual external audit they are fucked.

by staunch 11y ago

Where's the Linode founder(s) in all this, and why couldn't they have kept customers informed? It seems like a lone network engineer has been left to deal with a potentially company destroying event.

jsmthrowaway 11y ago

I was personally in the room, and in agreement, when running a real grown-up AS with carrier transit was proposed to Chris Aker as early as 2010, maybe 2009, to avoid this very scenario and many others like it. It's not really news. I have tremendous respect for the engineer who proposed it and fully believe he could have executed on this when Linode still had four facilities and 360 MB Linodes were the norm. I'm not saying that to toot my own horn (really, I'm not "I told you so" or arrogant like that), but there are very specific reasons that this wasn't done for as long as possible. I lack recent context, but the Linode decision-making culture was for many years completely driven by one individual who worked to spend as little on infrastructure as humanly possible. Even once growth really took off and revenue started making these big shifts in strategy viable, the mindset was still to be lean and scrappy. The minimal capital expenditure strategy had benefits early on and allowed Linode to maintain an incredible margin and support explosive growth, but they were too slow to start thinking like a grown-up company when it started to matter, and it's coming back to bite both on security (with almost zero investment; just enough to pass PCI-DSS) and things like this. When I heard they bought the Philadelphia building, for example, I was very surprised because that's not the Chris I knew. We lobbied for a Philadelphia office for years. Could be a good sign regarding decision-making culture for the future, but hard to say. Don't read me as bad blood or anything, as I wish Linode no ill will (I actually hope they can turn this perceived slump around), it's just educational to see the consequences of choices and mindset catch up with a company. I learned a lot about management style while working there and contrasting with subsequent employers.

mskaldlmk 11y ago
> just enough to pass PCI-DSS nope, the only way Linode "pass" now is being below the self-assessment questionnaire threshold. Once they have to move to an actual external audit they are fucked.