They're going to get more than 1000 people signing up.
The order of magnitude above 1000 people will probably more than make up for the $100,000 they stand to lose.
Extending this idea, if I was the person involved with this deal, I'd also include current customers.
If they allowed this, the order of magnitude of new sign-ups (above 1000) would only be increased.
People who sign up for a second Linode are worth just as much as people signing up for their first Linode - there's potentially less risk, because current customers already have an established relationship with Linode, and are most likely to continue using their services once the credit has been spent.
It's not even costing them $100,000 to do this. What does $100 of service cost linode- probably very little. That's about 4 months worth of the basic hosting plan, which is 1/40 of a server (so their FAQ says). The cost to linode for this promotion is probably much lower.
This doubly makes me wish they offered this to existing customers buying new nodes, however it's extremely similar to the Amazon deal a few weeks back.
I think they're more hedging their bets on customers using the service for a few months and replacing their current (if they have it) host with Linode and once their credit runs out being so invested in Linode as a service -- realising it rocks and having their stuff all there -- they won't have a reason to move and if they choose to it'll be a pain to do so.
True, but if they extended the deal to current customers they'd still have the same outlay ($100,000) but the buzz + new signups would be increased.
I suppose it could be argued that current customers are more likely to sign-up for a second linode independently from any offer; but in counter to that, some current customers might be dissuaded from signing up for a second linode in the near future because the perceived value proposition has been lessened.
I think allowing current customers to sign up for a 2nd linode would be a win-win for Linode (and people like me who currently use them).
They're going to get more than 1000 people signing up.
The order of magnitude above 1000 people will probably more than make up for the $100,000 they stand to lose.
Extending this idea, if I was the person involved with this deal, I'd also include current customers.
If they allowed this, the order of magnitude of new sign-ups (above 1000) would only be increased.
People who sign up for a second Linode are worth just as much as people signing up for their first Linode - there's potentially less risk, because current customers already have an established relationship with Linode, and are most likely to continue using their services once the credit has been spent.