I don't know if it's really that fair to characterize colocrossing in such a poor light in regards to the semi-demise of LEB, any more than it's fair to characterize mACROsFOT in such a light (Even though Bill Gates is the Anti-Christ, LOL).
As a business, it just makes sense for your mission to be search and destroy, divide and conquer, or whatever M.O propels you to the top of the molehill. There wouldn't be much point being in business if you didn't want to succeed, and succeed in a big way.
On the other hand, the now famous "Flip" by Chief having been exposed, I contend that it's perfectly acceptable to pidgeonhole what he did as a Judas move, or some other equally villainous metaphor. When LowEndAdmin handed him the car keys and said, "Happy high school graduation son!", he didn't mean, "Hey boi, why don't drive this shiney Mustang into a telephone pole at high speed, and collect some insurance money?".
Is there a conflict of interest that LEB/LET is now owned by colocrossing? Absolutely! Should they care? Only when the cash cow stops coming home, IMO.
Was flipping LEB to an industry player an ethical thing to do? Well it wasn't illegal, but it probably wasn't the best moral decision to make, and it was done, knowingly against the intentions of what the creator had envisioned - but when you're given free will, and the power to decide to engage in either right or wrong, it's pretty typical behavior in all of the mythological sagas, from Gilgamesh, to the Bible, to the story of Promethius to eat of the proverbial apple.
Hm... I just finished my second cup of coffee. I getting hungry and I think I want my rib back. What does she mean I can't have it?
One more note on that point. I see all of these people complaining and bashing Google for their announcement to trash XMPP, effectively eliminating free VoIP phone service for Asterisk and FreeSwitch users...
But google never promised them a damn thing. They said, "Here's this thing we made, use it for free (or not)". No SLA, no guarantees, not even a mention that they were in it for any sort of philanthropy. It's theirs people, you have no contract, and should not have any expectations that you are entitled to any sort of commitment or assurance.
It's kind of the same with LEB/LET - Did it cost us anything? Yet it made us money? C'mon buoys and gulls, let's just move on and be happy there's a vpsBoard.com okay?
Kindest regards,
