I dabbled with Rackspace’s Cloud Sites™ platform way back when it was a start-up called Mosso. I tried it. It was bad. I left. But then a a year or so later…I noticed it’d been absorbed by Rackspace. I loved Rackspace and had a dedicated server there and had directed several customers to Rack for their hosting needs too. It was a highly customer service oriented company. Sure Rackspace cost a bit more than bargain hosting – but it was worth every penny. Their fanatical support was always stellar.

So I gave Cloud Sites™ another try….

I had managed my own servers in-house. I had colocated servers. And I’d already been using Rackspace for a dedicated server. And I learned one thing from all these experiences. I didn’t want to manage nor be responsible for servers any more. So when I discovered Rackspace had absorbed Mosso I gave Cloud Sites™ another try.

Cloud Sites™….it was everything I’d dreamed.

Sure there was a little bit of learning curve. Some of our sites had to be “updated” and “tweaked” to deal with the cloud and how it dealt with things. But overall, Cloud Sites™ was terrific. It allowed us to sell hosting, email, and dns management to clients – sure 99% never touched or used any of it. But it was there for the few who wanted it. And best of all, Cloud Sites™ did all the billing. We simply set our own pricing for what we resold…and set up client sub accounts. And it all simply happened. It worked and I didn’t have to manage anything.

The dream started to fray…

Cloud Sites™ started to change a bit just prior to Rackspace’s IPO. There was a great feature…where we could sell “support” to our clients…for a monthly fee. But the support was actually Rackspace’s team answering the phone as us! It was awesome. No more late night phone calls from clients. If they had a problem…they called support and Rackspace Cloud Sites™ tech answered as us and solved the problem. The first rip in the Cloud Sites™ fabric of awesomeness…this feature was eliminated.

When they eliminated “call-in” support for our clients…I shook it off

Yup, I told myself…I can understand why they’re doing this. It had to be an expensive option that consumed their tech’s time. So I rationalized this was a prudent change. I was sad…but I sucked it up. After all, I didn’t use it much.

Then they eliminated email from Cloud Sites™!

Wow…this one caught me completely by surprise. All NEW Cloud Sites™ customers will not be able to offer email hosting under their hosting accounts? A ridiculous, short sighted change. Chances are if you need a website you need email to go with it. It’s what made Cloud Sites™ so nice. You could setup a client. Build and host their website. And configure their email. But then they could add, edit, or delete email accounts through a clean, simple web interface. One log-in to rule them all. But no more.

Sure, current Cloud Sites™ accounts (like us) are “grandfathered”. We can continue to create email with our hosting. But I’m concerned for how long? Will they suddenly decide this isn’t prudent any longer and yank email away from my customers? Support has said no…but I’m still concerned.

Why am I still concerned? Well, another unique feature of Cloud Sites™ was its ability to support both PHP and ASP applications within the same website. Sure, it’s a rare need, but it was a wonderful option. And one that some clients enjoyed. And a feature we could “promote” when we resold Cloud Sites™. But now this feature is being eliminated.

Yes, with 90 days notice, this dual app support will be eliminated. In a few days, you’ll be unable to create an account with dual app support. And then at the end of 90 days it will cease to function completely. So if you have sites that utilize dual app technologies…you’d better clean things up. Sure, you can create another “site” and choose PHP or ASP for it…and run separate pages or sections under a subdomain. But it’s a feature that was exceptional that’s being eliminated. And frankly, I think it’s very short notice. The minimum required by the terms of service.

The lose of dual app technology support doesn’t affect me…but it’s cause for concern

I’m not thrilled that this feature we promote is going away. But there’s ways to work around it (sub-domains configured under various technology protocols). But what’s really concerning me is the abruptness of this change – to a feature that seemed fundamental to Cloud Sites™. And I learned of this at the same time I learned email has been eliminated. What if they decided to revoke the grandfathering of email hosting for current Cloud Sites™ accounts? Again the terms of service indicate Rackspace only needs to provide 90 days notice. That’s great (for them). But what about all our customers that we have to inform, migrate, and charge more (if we can).

So now I’m feeling the IPO has tarnished Rackspace’s customer service and focus. It feels to me that its now about quarterly profits. Sure…that’s my impression only…but it certainly feels that customer service is lagging since their IPO. It’s simply a different company now. One that I no longer feel the love from as I once did. It feels like that awkward time at the end of a relationship….where things are fraying…and they’re starting to go bad but you’re in denial. But eventually….it ends badly.

I hope things turn around…and that I’ll find I’m simply overreacting. But I’ll admit….these recent escapades of Rackspace’s Cloud Sites™ has my eye wandering. Then again…maybe it’s me and not them.