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I view all "free for life" promotions like this. Years ago I bought a free for life hosting plan from some provider. It lasted several years before they decided

I view all "free for life" promotions like this. Years ago I bought a free for life hosting plan from some provider. It lasted several years before they decided enough was enough. They moved the free tier people over to a server that would make an AWS micro instance look like the modern version of a Cray. I contacted them to complain about it and they essentially said, "What did you expect?" I had paid $400 for this plan when they were just getting started as a way of supporting them and helping them bootstrap their business. I learned my lesson, however. I had been using their main service for clients at the time and I moved everything away and never considered them again. Absolutely cost them more than the savings they thought they were gaining (probably cost them more than their savings in just the first month).

Sohcahtoa82 5y ago
> I view all "free for life" promotions like this. Indeed. On Facebook, I kept seeing ads for some cloud computer provider offering a "for life" VM for $100. I'm like, first off, that's going to be a very low-end VM. Second, "for life" is probably going to end in <5 years when they discover how much that actually costs them, or the company bombs. > Absolutely cost them more than the savings they thought they were gaining (probably cost them more than their savings in just the first month). How is it costing them money if they already got your $400 and aren't paying anything monthly? If anything, keeping you around was costing them money. The only thing they're losing is lost sales from negative word-of-mouth, but that's very hard to quantify.
- PebblesRox 5y ago
  My understanding is that gaoshan had clients on the regular paid plans and moved them all elsewhere after the loss of trust.
- gaoshan 5y ago
  I removed my clients from their standard service. I only ran my personal web site on the free tier. Because I supported them and liked their services I also hosted a number of others on their standard paid plan (probably 5 different clients). I pulled all of them so they lost what each of those were paying per month.
ceejayoz 5y ago
Was that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TextDrive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TextDrive ? I had one with them, as well.
- gaoshan 5y ago
  Yes, that was it! I had forgotten the name (but not the foul taste they left in my mouth). Joyent was who they were when I left.

Sohcahtoa82 5y ago

> I view all "free for life" promotions like this. Indeed. On Facebook, I kept seeing ads for some cloud computer provider offering a "for life" VM for $100. I'm like, first off, that's going to be a very low-end VM. Second, "for life" is probably going to end in <5 years when they discover how much that actually costs them, or the company bombs. > Absolutely cost them more than the savings they thought they were gaining (probably cost them more than their savings in just the first month). How is it costing them money if they already got your $400 and aren't paying anything monthly? If anything, keeping you around was costing them money. The only thing they're losing is lost sales from negative word-of-mouth, but that's very hard to quantify.

PebblesRox 5y ago
My understanding is that gaoshan had clients on the regular paid plans and moved them all elsewhere after the loss of trust.
gaoshan 5y ago
I removed my clients from their standard service. I only ran my personal web site on the free tier. Because I supported them and liked their services I also hosted a number of others on their standard paid plan (probably 5 different clients). I pulled all of them so they lost what each of those were paying per month.

ceejayoz 5y ago

Was that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TextDrive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TextDrive ? I had one with them, as well.

gaoshan 5y ago
Yes, that was it! I had forgotten the name (but not the foul taste they left in my mouth). Joyent was who they were when I left.