There might be better performing hosting providers, and there are definitely lower cost providers than Linode, but I don't love them like I love Linode.

It's not entirely rational, but if you ask around, I'd wager most people who use Linode love it.

Maybe it's because it used to be just caker doing everything, or the free disk / memory upgrades he kept handing out. I remember him asking about LASIK surgery in the (very helpful) forums; there's a family feeling to it. It's the anti-Rackspace. It's home.