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And bad press again when Dean Allen popped out of nowhere to save the day with continuing the lifetime hosting (but shared.) I don't quite remember what happene

by gexla 6y ago

And bad press again when Dean Allen popped out of nowhere to save the day with continuing the lifetime hosting (but shared.) I don't quite remember what happened as I don't use shared hosting. I believe people actually got their shared hosting but it didn't last long. Dean Allen disappeared again and the service went away.

petecooper 6y ago
I think you're talking about Kaizen Garden. They came and went, though it was a galant effort. http://web.archive.org/web/20140810052728/http://kaizengarden.co/ http://web.archive.org/web/20140810052728/http://kaizengarde... Edit: though I do have a vague memory of Dean wanting to resurrect TextDrive and not getting very far: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4455896 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4455896
- gexla 6y ago
  Nice detective work. What I'm referring to is the subject of the second link, "TextDrive is back."
chipotle_coyote 6y ago
You're right, yes. I was an original TextDrive customer and had the "lifetime hosting" plan, although I'd moved off of it well before Joyent shut it down -- it was clear that Joyent didn't have any real interest in keeping that promise. I think I got into an argument with a Joyent person or two by phrasing it similarly bluntly, but Joyent went through several pivots in their lifetime -- their original pitch was SaaS, providing "simple, powerful, web-based software that provides small teams with email, calendars, contacts, and shared applications" (quoting from their web site circa 2005 courtesy of archive.org) -- and when they pivoted into Serious Big Iron Enterprise Hosting (tm) it was clear fairly quickly that not only was shared hosting on borrowed time, but that they had no real interest in "low end" hosting of any sort. I suspect we'll never know the true story of what happened with Dean Allen; looking back, there were definite signs even from as far removed as I am of him battling with depression, but of course, I'm writing this now with hindsight. At the time I'm pretty sure I just felt mildly annoyed that he seemed to have vanished from both TextDrive and Textpattern.
- gexla 6y ago
  > I suspect we'll never know the true story of what happened with Dean Allen; looking back, there were definite signs even from as far removed as I am of him battling with depression, but of course, I'm writing this now with hindsight. Or he just liked to drink. Have you seen this piece from Om Malik? https://om.co/2018/01/18/dean-allen-rest-in-peace/ https://om.co/2018/01/18/dean-allen-rest-in-peace/ There's a story in there about Dean Allen getting drunk and locking Om Malik out of the apartment. ;)
  - chipotle_coyote 6y ago
    Heh. I did see it, but that's also the piece with the line "I think I heard Jason say that Dean gave up on the struggle," which sure seems suggestive.
    - gexla 6y ago
      Ouch, I forgot about that part. That's sobering. I remember the drinking part of the story, but as with any story, there's more to it than we'll know. I suppose this is a good moment to say, RIP Dean Allen. This is another moment where we remember you at HN. Regardless of the history of Textpattern and all that followed (including the hosting) - I spent many hours happily hacking on tools provided from that shared journey. It was a great ecosystem, or we wouldn't still be talking about it. Thanks to everyone who participated.

by gexla 6y ago

petecooper 6y ago

I think you're talking about Kaizen Garden. They came and went, though it was a galant effort. http://web.archive.org/web/20140810052728/http://kaizengarden.co/ http://web.archive.org/web/20140810052728/http://kaizengarde... Edit: though I do have a vague memory of Dean wanting to resurrect TextDrive and not getting very far: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4455896 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4455896

gexla 6y ago
Nice detective work. What I'm referring to is the subject of the second link, "TextDrive is back."

chipotle_coyote 6y ago

You're right, yes. I was an original TextDrive customer and had the "lifetime hosting" plan, although I'd moved off of it well before Joyent shut it down -- it was clear that Joyent didn't have any real interest in keeping that promise. I think I got into an argument with a Joyent person or two by phrasing it similarly bluntly, but Joyent went through several pivots in their lifetime -- their original pitch was SaaS, providing "simple, powerful, web-based software that provides small teams with email, calendars, contacts, and shared applications" (quoting from their web site circa 2005 courtesy of archive.org) -- and when they pivoted into Serious Big Iron Enterprise Hosting (tm) it was clear fairly quickly that not only was shared hosting on borrowed time, but that they had no real interest in "low end" hosting of any sort. I suspect we'll never know the true story of what happened with Dean Allen; looking back, there were definite signs even from as far removed as I am of him battling with depression, but of course, I'm writing this now with hindsight. At the time I'm pretty sure I just felt mildly annoyed that he seemed to have vanished from both TextDrive and Textpattern.

gexla 6y ago
> I suspect we'll never know the true story of what happened with Dean Allen; looking back, there were definite signs even from as far removed as I am of him battling with depression, but of course, I'm writing this now with hindsight. Or he just liked to drink. Have you seen this piece from Om Malik? https://om.co/2018/01/18/dean-allen-rest-in-peace/ https://om.co/2018/01/18/dean-allen-rest-in-peace/ There's a story in there about Dean Allen getting drunk and locking Om Malik out of the apartment. ;)
- chipotle_coyote 6y ago
  Heh. I did see it, but that's also the piece with the line "I think I heard Jason say that Dean gave up on the struggle," which sure seems suggestive.
  - gexla 6y ago
    Ouch, I forgot about that part. That's sobering. I remember the drinking part of the story, but as with any story, there's more to it than we'll know. I suppose this is a good moment to say, RIP Dean Allen. This is another moment where we remember you at HN. Regardless of the history of Textpattern and all that followed (including the hosting) - I spent many hours happily hacking on tools provided from that shared journey. It was a great ecosystem, or we wouldn't still be talking about it. Thanks to everyone who participated.