I finally got pissed off that I couldn't run Java applications or Ruby Gems on my rented virtual server, because of
memory limitations - 80 Mb just isn't enough, especially when gem
is as boneheaded as it is about reading in the
whole gem index at once. So,
despite having had such good experience with Bytemark, I decided that I can't afford to
upgrade to their next best server package, so I've migrated to Slicehost. Just as I had
bought my 256 Mb "slice", Bytemark announced that they would be upgrading my package to 150 Mb and 10 Gb of storage.
Well, I'm sad to ditch them, but Slicehost is still offering an extra 100 Mb of memory at a slightly lower cost... no
contest. Plus, my server had got into the Linux "too many packages installed just for the hell of it" phase and it's
almost easier to move between providers than to attempt to juggle my files and configuration around on the same VM
while I reinstall it.
Anyway, my first impressions of Slicehost are very good: they know enough Web development kung fu to have provided very
nifty, slightly AJAXy Web console apps and a nice slice monitor/DNS manager etc. And my slice was ready to use within 2
minutes of handing over my credit card details - that speaks volumes to me about knowing what you're doing. I've now
upgraded the site to Radiant 0.6 and have a few random articles in the pipeline - it's nice to get out of the doldrums
of worrying about which blog/CMS/whatever engine to use and to just get on with incoherently venting my spleen again :-)