Impromptu Activity
I was going about my daily life when I got a notification on my email client. Naturally, I sprang into action and got reading. This is what it said:
I, your humble competitor, have wrote an honest and thoughtful review of
your hosting. I thought I would let you see it, and wish you all the
best. I hope that in the interest of a fair market you would return me
the favour I have extended here.
I was intrigued, and naturally proceeded to read the review. Here's the review for those interested.
Click here to read the review inline
Kaizu Shibata wrote:
I have been doing what I do here at KLOS for some time, and have seen little competition. I recently learned about an emerging player in this game called Dasho Hosting who offers a free VPS. I thought I would talk about this provider and what I see there.
For a start, like myself he says far too much about himself, that he is a 17 year boy in fact which I find highly specific. Everyone who knows me knows they don't actually know me. They also know that I am quite vague.
He offers hosting of a free VPS which would be incredibly generous, and the code that supports his platform is available for free from Microsoft. In that source we learn that this kid is a sad liar, and he offers a free docker container. This is not virtualisation afterall, and the damn image only supports PHP at that.
His policy is pretty open and my sources who told me about him said he originally was 'child love friendly' but has changed that. His current policy however forbids CP even if a site owner fights against it. On my host, where I put much effort into policy, people are responsible for what they upload, much like actual law. He clearly doesn't know how this game is played, and one can apparently DOS his service just by uploading CP.
The person doing this has little respect at all for definition, we can see. He does not know what virtualisation is, and what on Earth does he mean by gross? I recommend if you get hosting anywhere get it with with someone who thinks words should actually have meaning. It is only people who care about meaning who mean what they say.
I am sure in a month or a year this kid is either going to get owned or get bored. Meanwhile, I'll still be here working. Also, I don't need a Git repo because Gentoo already have one.
My platform supports every modern FOSS framework, uses actual virtualisation, and isn't vague and creepy. I am not a teenage boy or girl, though I was quite young when I started doing this. I don't even know if he is behind a middlebox, and I don't think he even has himself convinced he is actually up to the task.
Well... needless to say, it’s not the warmest of reviews but anyhow, they wrote one on me, and requested I write one on them, so, here goes nothing…
Review
The UI
I know it’s a small part of it overall, but I have to admit I like the UI. It has that retro hacker vibe you’d sorta expect from darknet. The navigation is very easy, the colour scheme is pleasing and honestly, who doesn’t love a little Rainbow Dash now and then? So, all in all I score this section… (and I’ve never written a review for anything before (except books in primary school for no apparent reason except that the teachers enjoyed upsetting us) so… roll with me) … an 8/10. It loses two marks just out of personal preference that I’d prefer a sans-serif font face.
Rating: 8/10
The Varity of Services
I only had a quick look around, but I have to admit it’s pretty comprehensive. There’s a bit of everything by the looks of it. I’m not educated enough on each service to give a review of its ability to do what it’s supposed to, but it has mail, prebuilt configured web stacks (which claim to be hardened), and it comes with tools like phpMyAdmin, usermin, the ability to add a custom shell, clearnet subdomains of infantile.xyz, and supports for vendors. Like I said, pretty comprehensive. It also claims that a system team audited with a canary for authenticated verification of server security.
Rating: 7/10: I feel like that it relies on a lot of work on the user side of things, and not very accessible to those who know little about what’s going on – but for full fledged programmers I’m sure that it’ll have what they need.
Pricing
This is where my bias comes in. I try to support opensourcity (I just invented a word… wooh!) and freedom … the key part there being free. However, I’m trying to view this part purely with a business mind frame. This service does allow a lot of flexibility when it comes to pricing. Anything from $8/mo to $75/mo paying monthly, and $6.25/mo to $60/mo paying annually. Although, pricing for hosting goes no cheaper than $9.53/mo paying annually, and $20/mo annually for the most basic VPS option. This is a little steep but considering the work which they claim to have been putting in, and the fact it’s over tor, I suppose it’s also not unreasonable. They also offer support for installing systems, averaging at around $10/install. All in all, it’s an option, and definitely good comparing to other competition out there.
Rating: NA: I am not informed enough, nor objective enough to give this rating.
Conclusion
I know there are more aspects of this service I’ve overlooked, and that this is just one “sad liar”s opinion (took me like four tries to spell opinion there wtf) but… I think it’s worth looking at. Choosing a service right for you is a personal decision and depends on your needs. But it appears that Kaizu Shibata has built a very good service here, and if you’re in the market for hosting, it’s definitely work checking them out.
Anyway… peace ✌