Hosting companies aren’t perfect. No company is. But sometimes they are especially flawed. GoDaddy is one of those companies. It’s not so much their business, it’s everything else.
@mediatemple @portentint just read the comments. #ouch
— SEO Bandwagon (@SEOBandwagon) October 15, 2013
Someone at the MediaTemple replied to me on their Twitter feed.
The blog post does put a positive face on the move. But you can see that it is not widely popular from the Facebook Comments section. They deserve credit for answering some tough questions and leaving up some unflattering opinions. And they have responded firmly and appropriately.
Mostly it’s their initial support of SOPA before they backtracked and opposed the bill. GoDaddy may have evolved their thinking on SOPA but it shows lack of vision and clarity. Considers nothing for their customers.
They don’t get the Internet from the view of the web developer. And that is a big reason why they bought MediaTemple according to their CEO Blake Irving. “Our goal is to expand our recognition with developers internationally,” according to VentureBeat. From the same article:
In the past 16 months, GoDaddy has also acquired Locu, Outright, M.dot, Ronin, Afternic, and SmartName, which are all web services targeted to small businesses. In most cases, these startups have continued to operate their services — in other words, they haven’t just been talent acquisitions or “acqui-hires.”
Recognition is key. GoDaddy is bad and they know it. Maybe these acquisitions will stand on their own and change the culture at GoDaddy. Mergers rarely go that way. One culture will be dominant and that will be determined by the CEO. They usually favor their own style or culture to others. GoDaddy would certainly be well served by adopting some of the culture that was on full display while MediaTemple was being criticized on their blog.
Also, some of the MediaTemple founders are taking Virb with them. Good luck!
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