The MassLinux Disappearance Explained

Just recently we had a piece commenting on how many people were wondering where MassLinux had gone. Emmett Plant, at LinuxToday, has got the story. In an interview, Emmett talks with MassLinux' Todd Lauder about the whole situation and how people can expect to get their information back from MassLinux.

Comments

Re:half assed explanation

[Zico]

Sorry, but giving people the benefit of the doubt is not allowed here at Slashdot. You must instantly assume the worst about their motives, and attack them until they beg for mercy in a press release.

Oh wait, it's a Linux company. Nevermind. :)

Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com

Re:Hello, Gen X (or Y or whatever)

[tlauder]

trust me, we would love to come back, we tried to get funding from everywhere we could think of, and my pockets ain't that deep :/ If anyone has any ideas on funding or colo's let me know.....

The outage isn't the problem

[UncleRoger]

Todd Lauder seems like a nice guy (that's what I thought, anyway, before all this happened.) So let's say that what he says is what happened.

Okay, stuff happens.

The problem is that no one bothered to contact the customers.

They had access to the computers, so they had access to e-mail addresses. They could have checked whois (or their own records) for phone numbers. They could have sent out snail-mail letters, if necessary. What's the cost of a few stamps compared to going out of business?

The big problem I faced was that I didn't know what happened. For the first few days, I had to sit there and wonder if I should move my domain or not.

Had I received an e-mail, a phone call, a letter, or even spotted a message in a newsgroup (I searched!) explaining what was up, I probably would have gotten someone to host a temporary page saying "technical difficulties" or something, gotten my domain pointed at it, and waited it out.

In fact, I got a couple of offers (based on my posts here and in newsgroups) to host my entire site for free, and in reality, I could have set something up at home on my DSL connection.

But I didn't know.

So, I assumed the worst and set up my sites with a new ISP. With no news, no contact, I had to assume they had taken the money and run.

Meanwhile, with the outage going on, day by day by day, more and more of my users were slipping away from me. I don't know if I will bother continuing, because of the same reasons MassLinux offered.

Luckily for me, this is not what pays my mortgage, so I will survive. I feel for those for whom this is not the case.

As to lawsuits, yeah, I was definitely planning something to at least get back what I had paid them, possibly something more for all the time I had to devote to setting up and reconfiguring my sites elsewhere. (I've still got a couple that aren't set up quite right yet.)

It's Time to Call in the State & Federal Gov't

[dave_aiello]

I don't know what really happened here, but, it is a serious miscalculation on the part of the people from MassLinux to try to head off customer complaints this way. They are only hurting themselves by going out on to places like LinuxToday and Slashdot, and telling such an unbelievable story.

I am not a Masslinux customer, but if I were, this is what I would do:

1) If I were a resident of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I would contact the Department of Telecommunication and Energy. Calling them on the phone at (800) 392-6066, their complaint line, is probably the best approach. My question would be whether they are the correct place to launch an investigation at the state level.

2) I would call my (Massachusetts) assemblyman and ask for assistance. This will probably require a letter sent by US Mail documenting the loss of service and the lack of business-to-customer communication.

3) Regardless of where I lived and worked, I would contact the Federal Communications Commission and ask which federal agency ought to be involved in an investigation. I would go to the Federal Government because they have some jurisdiction over anyone participating in interstate commerce.

No one should accept heresay and innuendo. These people represented themselves as a business and they took payment from customers for services. Masslinux customers have a right to a complete and thorough explanation, including a determination of ultimate responsibility for the disruption.

Anyone who accepts less because there is no recourse in the "New Ecomomy" doesn't understand their rights as American citizens.

I wish I didn't feel this way, but part of me thinks that the community should stop meaningless political actions like boycotting Amazon.com and start using its passion and determination to get to the bottom of this incredible situation.
--

Dave Aiello