Joe
04-24-2005, 10:58 AM
After 2 weeks, MUCH consideration and a LOT of discussion with other hosts and industry professionals I have decided that another control panel (cPanel) is not the right choice for HostPC at this time. I'd like to explain what led me to this decision.
1. We've been using DirectAdmin since 2003, and while there have been minor bumps, it has been a painless experience for HostPC. DirectAdmin is _VERY_ secure, it's kept updated, and the user interface is, in our opinion one of the best out there. We know DirectAdmin, we trust DirectAdmin, and DirectAdmin has proven itself as a quality, professional choice for our clients. Like the TV commercial - set it and forget it.
2. Changes are coming to DirectAdmin, hopefully very soon that include a better IMAP functionality, enhanced options, and dare I say ssh is still on the drawing board. These will bring us up to a level I'd really like to see.
3. cPanel is a nice control panel, but it's extremely "bulky". It reminds me in a lot of ways of Ensim - fairly slow to load (on a pretty powerful P4 2.8ghz Dell machine) and in testing and evaluating with live customers for the past two weeks, I still can't get a feeling that I can "leave it alone" overnight. The bottom of my gut tells me that there's going to be SOME issue. I dont know when, where or how - but I'd rather not take that chance.
Admittedly, I caved into pressure to offer a second panel too quickly. cPanel was the most requested alternatitve to DirectAdmin - and seemed like a good choice. The bottom line is, even now I don't feel comfortable with it - and I dont feel that HostPC can provide the level of support that we can with DirectAdmin.
At this time, we have about 125 cPanel customers. Each have been notified about my decision, and knew that this was a possibility. Faced with the need to bring more servers online already, I needed to make a decision. That decision is to abandon plans to implement cPanel.
The current customers have all agreed to switch to DirectAdmin, or will be acquired by another company in our datacenter. I'll be discussing those plans privately via email with each individual involved.
If you've come from another host in the past 24-48 hours with the intention of waiting for an open cPanel hosting slot, we can either set you up on DirectAdmin, or refund your account. Please let us know ASAP concerning this. I can be reached via email to: support@hostpc.com
Thank you for working with us through this tough decision. I think it's in our best interest to continue to do what we do best, and that's offering the best support and pricing for DirectAdmin hosting, resellers and dedicated servers on the market today.
Joseph Mack
Owner
HostPC Internet Services
1. We've been using DirectAdmin since 2003, and while there have been minor bumps, it has been a painless experience for HostPC. DirectAdmin is _VERY_ secure, it's kept updated, and the user interface is, in our opinion one of the best out there. We know DirectAdmin, we trust DirectAdmin, and DirectAdmin has proven itself as a quality, professional choice for our clients. Like the TV commercial - set it and forget it.
2. Changes are coming to DirectAdmin, hopefully very soon that include a better IMAP functionality, enhanced options, and dare I say ssh is still on the drawing board. These will bring us up to a level I'd really like to see.
3. cPanel is a nice control panel, but it's extremely "bulky". It reminds me in a lot of ways of Ensim - fairly slow to load (on a pretty powerful P4 2.8ghz Dell machine) and in testing and evaluating with live customers for the past two weeks, I still can't get a feeling that I can "leave it alone" overnight. The bottom of my gut tells me that there's going to be SOME issue. I dont know when, where or how - but I'd rather not take that chance.
Admittedly, I caved into pressure to offer a second panel too quickly. cPanel was the most requested alternatitve to DirectAdmin - and seemed like a good choice. The bottom line is, even now I don't feel comfortable with it - and I dont feel that HostPC can provide the level of support that we can with DirectAdmin.
At this time, we have about 125 cPanel customers. Each have been notified about my decision, and knew that this was a possibility. Faced with the need to bring more servers online already, I needed to make a decision. That decision is to abandon plans to implement cPanel.
The current customers have all agreed to switch to DirectAdmin, or will be acquired by another company in our datacenter. I'll be discussing those plans privately via email with each individual involved.
If you've come from another host in the past 24-48 hours with the intention of waiting for an open cPanel hosting slot, we can either set you up on DirectAdmin, or refund your account. Please let us know ASAP concerning this. I can be reached via email to: support@hostpc.com
Thank you for working with us through this tough decision. I think it's in our best interest to continue to do what we do best, and that's offering the best support and pricing for DirectAdmin hosting, resellers and dedicated servers on the market today.
Joseph Mack
Owner
HostPC Internet Services