OpenDNS is not 'open' in any meaningful way, and it's not DNS (poisoned on an opt-out basis).

It's not fast either: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=497959

I don't know how the hell they managed to market themselves so successfully as the answer to "my ISP's DNS sucks", especially when their entire business model is so straightforwardly evil: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Site_Finder

Wait, let me get this straight:

They're evil for providing global DNS you can use from anywhere because of something verisign did? And their service is terrible because its not quite as fast as your ISPs DNS which is much closer to you? Bitter much?

People like OpenDNS because you can set and forget it, as you move around networks. Its nice. If you don't like it, don't use it. But spare us your outrage, mm-kay? ;)

Their service is a much more invasive version of what Verisign was rightly excoriated for -- they don't stop at squatting on wildcard DNS + malware domains, they proxy Google search!

My shitty ISP's DNS is only slower than OpenDNS on my ISP's awful internal network that routes my DNS packets over it's internal network cross-country for no reason -- on the internet backbone OpenDNS is marginally slower. Both are completely blown out of the water by Level3's free public DNS (4.2.2.1 - 4.2.2.6).

OpenDNS's claims to speed are bullshit, and they don't even seem to try -- I've only ever seen packets routed to them via NTT/Verio, which is the least-connected and highest-latency Tier 1 Network.

I hate that when using OpenDNS on my computer if I ping a site that is down the ping is returned from another IP address. I am less bothered by if the site doesn't exist, they load the search page from OpenDNS I would expect that as they have no other way to make money.

I knew of the Site Finder incident, but I am not very familiar with the details. That said, isn't the big difference with OpenDNS that it is opt-in? You don't have to use it if you don't like the advertising component, but they are providing much more than redirects of unregistered domains. They also correct misspellings, block phishing sites, and any other category of domains you want to filter out. Especially in a corporate setting, it seems like they can provide quite a bit of convenience.

This was a competitive VC deal? Halsey Minor has been trying to get someone to take OpenDNS off his hands for quite some time now; he needs the money. Don't believe everything you read, kids.

OpenDNS claims openly to be profitable. You're saying this is false?

Your claims of desperation do not jibe with one of the VCs being... Sequoia.

Umm, why do you feel a need to downvote and reply to every criticism of this company?

Just because something is making money doesn't mean it is making enough money to be worth keeping around. Also, doesn't mean it's making as much money as someone thought it would. The VCs involved may have invested sensing a turnaround opportunity, or to combine OpenDNS with a portfolio company. I'm sure they received favorable terms for their cash.

You don't seem to have any inside knowledge whatsoever, you're just making assumptions and stating them as fact. Which is why you got down-modded.

Had the pleasure of interviewing David when I was in Silicon valley last month, and was impressed at how down to earth a guy he was. I'm sure they'll put this money to good use.

He used to comment here, from time to time:

http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=davidu

Which is the only reason this article caught my eye.

David was pud's sysadmin, about as low on the totem pole as one can get. "Down to earth" is the only favorable adjective one could use for this fellow.

Jealous much?

I know David from various different settings and even he will agree that he's a smarmy fellow.

I know you from one setting, and so far my impression is that you registered an account just to talk shit about someone anonymously. I think you will agree that makes you a despicable coward.

That's funny, 'cause I don't know you and it's my first time posting on this site, though I've visited precisely once beforehand. I did read the site guidelines and I suggest you do the same. There is a bit in there about civility that you have clearly missed.

As for David: his line of work is identical to Verisign's roundly reviled typo-squatting model.

I typed them two IP addresses in myself because Embarq's DNS was so shitty. Daily outages shitty.

Verisign abused their power and jacked the internet.

How are these things the same?

Your first post is an insult, and you tell ME to read the guidelines on civility?