Just yesterday I watched an MJD video on YouTube (mostly retro PC and OS videos) and he always mentions being sponsored by Linode. Since I like MJD, I was inclined to like Linode by association. Bummer it's going away.
Imagine the next generation of VPS in 10-15 years - will they really care about the name "Linode" or "Akamai" as long as it's a great product?
Akamai killed the enthusiast-run Linode to instead create executive-run cloud computing services. That is what the difference is, and why these news are so worrisome for enthusiasts.