Hosting bitcoins on any vps is not a good idea. I'd be hesitant to store just a few, but trying to run an exchange on one is like trying to run a bank on a vps.

I agree linode's response was not ideal and they should learn from that and be far more transparent (see recent twilio billing issues for a good example of the way they should have responded), but hosting digital money which can be stolen on a shared vps is not a good example of a failure solely down to linode - those bitcoins wouldn't be safe on any vps long term, and their presence sounds like it caused this targetted hack in the first place.

To continue that analogy, its roughly equivalent to keeping $200k cash in a briefcase the floor of your apartment instead of in a safety deposit box at the bank.