The details of the existing DevPress business and its clientele, and what sorts of 'New & Improved!' ideas they might go for ... I don't know.

But I do know that small, specialized and local hosting is very much alive & well. As I gear up to go active/live again, it will be through/on my local ISP, who also provide hosting (physically).

My mistake in earlier consideration of (er, dismissing) the local option was the misconception that local means podunk and gyppo'd. In fact, several hundred branded 'smalls' are working alongside Microsoft & Amazon, over in Seattle. They're everywhere, in all urban centers, and in every Hicksville holler.

Even in Silicon Valley, smalls attract a lot of business. In fact, possibly especially so.

There are a myriad of ways to implement these services, some completely hardware-free, and others with their own backbones and rack-mount server-farms.

People doing this gotta go with what they know. Keep the back-foot steady on the proven stepping-stone, and judiciously probe the next one with the lead-foot. ;)