Rackspace has announced it will no longer be offering discounts on hosting for open source projects, although it will only apply to new customers rather than those with projects already up and running on the platform.
The closure of Rackspace's programme was announced on Twitter by director of the Python Foundation and co-founder of Read the Docs and Write the Docs, Eric Holscher, who posted a picture of the announcement alongside the message, "Looks like @rackspace is ending their OSS hosting program. Thanks for hosting @readthedocs for all these years! #fundoss."
However, he later added that Rackspace had since been in contact and had clarified that the cutbacks would only apply new applicants of the open source discount (OSS) scheme and not those that had been using the hosting for current projects.
The company apologised for the confusion in an email to Holscher, adding: "While Rackspace is no longer accepting new applicants to the Open Source Discount (OSS) program, all existing OSS program customers will keep their credits. Rackspace is committed to open source technology, and we look forward to continuing to support you and your open source project."
Rackspace offers "generous discounts on hosting" for open source developers, which it hoped would encourage the community to choose its hosting rather than signing up to a rival service. It seems to have worked, with more than 150 projects now using the company.
