I think Linode really needs to make their website more appealing. I know it shouldn't really matter, since as a customer I would use their slices not their web design skills, but it does. Their site has been getting better, but it still seems like they don't have someone there that gets how to tune a website to increase conversion.

https://www.linode.com/signup/ https://manage.slicehost.com/customers/new

As a comparison take a look at their signup pages. Which one of those pages would you rather fill out?

Another area where I like the Slicehost approach better is the way the prices are displayed. $20 for Slicehost vs $19.95 for Linode.