I started designing and developing websites in the early ’90s. One of my first hosts was Best Internet Communications, in Mountainview. They were a tiny operation, and absolutely legendary. I still miss the geniuses Mike, Rich, Matt, and all the rest.

Eventually, Best was bought by Hiway Technologies. Hiway was bought in 1998 by Verio, which had a well-earned rep for destroying everything it touched.

This process of being swallowed up by a much larger hosting company was known at the time as getting Borged. And as with virtually all acquisitions, the smaller company’s founders are promised, “Oh, absolutely! Your company will be a separate division, and you’ll have complete autonomy!” – and then later are unceremoniously thrown out as they watch while the company they worked so hard to build into something beautiful is subsumed into a lumbering, unfeeling, drone-served collective where the concept of quality of life/work/service simply doesn’t exist.

Their focus on designer-developers, their overall vibe and support and generally excellent technical chops (storing database passwords in the clear notwithstanding) made Media Temple a great match for me.

Sadly, the Borging continues, as evidenced by GD’s acquisition of Media Temple. I knew the moment I read the announcement that I’d be forced to move again. I’ve been chased from host to host by the Borg more often than by poor service that wasn’t caused by assimilation.

I apparently was lucky in this transition. Out of the 18 or so accounts on MT, only one had a problem… They managed to hose the email database on one of my own accounts.

I’ve taken advantage of this moment to consolidate around client 35 accounts on several legacy hosts onto one smaller company’s servers. I won’t shill them here, but so far, they’re amazing.

This really is the end of an era. Thanks, Media Temple. You were a good ship and true.