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The Linux Platinum Card: taken at better stores everywhere
DocSavage was the first to write with the news that The Linux Fund plans to offer a Linux credit card. Interesting-if they can get 100,000 subscribers, then they will have about 2 million dollars to throw at developers and projects.
Where in the (quoted) story does it state that it is US only?
We should try to lobby the Co-operartive Bank, to fix it's ethical policy so that it does not invest in immoral (proprietary) software companies, etc. :)
Well I do pay most of them electronically, now that my bank (BankBoston) allows you to do this from Linux (via 128-bit strong Netscape)
They do electronic funds transfer with some of my cards, however there are a few that they don't have set up, and I think if you pay these online, BankBoston snail mails the payment to them. I'd rather mail it myself than wait for the bank to do it.
Of all the comments I've ever posted, this is definately one of them
My AAA Financial Services card was great, 12.9%/No Annual Fee/No late charges/no telemarketers.
But it was managed by PNC, and the sold it to MBNA as the poster above mentions.
As for the rest of the cards I have, none of them are great. I like my AT&T Universal Mastercard because of the calling card feature, but I think that got sold to Citibank.
In short credit cards in general are a scam. Should you own any... yes, you need them for some things, but don't carry a balance when you can help it. But they have all sorts of dirty tricks to make you pay more...
Of all the comments I've ever posted, this is definately one of them
Hopefully this works out, but be sure to read the fine print. I got a loan from MBNA for a new Gateway machine (don't scream, I'm a Linux newbie, I'll convert in time*lol*). I got a 3yr loan and the beast is 26.99%!!! Yeah, ouch... Now I need a loan to pay off this one or I'll be paying double for the machine by the time I'm done (and it's certainly not worth all that!). And until this loan is payed off they won't give me a card anyhow, I tried already... Like I said, hopefully this works out but read everything before you sign. Later all....
Consider this:
Let's say I do get this Linux CC and charge $10,000 on it over the course of 1 year. Let's say MBNA gives 0.5% of that, or $50, toward Linux development.
-OR-
I use my current card, Bank of America, and get 2% cash back on the same $10,000 I would have spent with the Linux CC and get $200. I send the $200 to
say, SourceXchange, and $200 has gone to Linux instead of $50. It's simple math.
I don't know the details of MBNA's offer (and I'm suspicious of them for saying they'll send some of the proceeds towards linux development but failing to disclose exactly how much), but I suspect it's not worthwhile.
it could get a LOT better.. hack "money"
I'm glad First USA is working out for you, but ever since I've started dealing with them I've found them unbearable. What you say may be true,
but, they send tons of junk mail along with their billing statements and (at least it seems to me) they take a real long time processing payments so that they can charge as many late fees as possible.
I've really liked Bank of America, reasonable rates, no junk mail/telemarketing, 2% cash back, the only CC I've ever been totally happy with.
Every now and then, I get a credit card with a very low interest rate (under 4%) for a period of 12 months. Whenever I get one of these, I transfer another loan (like my car loan) to that credit card. The interest rate is easily lower than the rate on my savings account, so I actually make money by borrowing.
This the advice my parents gave me when I turned 18 and got my first credit card. I've followed it for 12 years since, and I've never had a problem.
Downloading the latest kernel: zero dollars
Running your own server: zero dollars
Collaborating with hundreds of other geeks on production quality software: zero dollars
The look on bill's face when Linux gets 51% market share: priceless
God. the Associates are worse.
They keep trying to sell me life insurance "to protect my family". This is for the credit card I signed up for at college.. tell me, how many college students really NEED life insurance?
Prolly because last time I checked, MBNA is the largest when it comes to 'branded' ccs. I don't see SFNB doing cc branding. Though s1 sells the banking technology, I wonder if they have anything to do with the cc side? I too have been with SFNB since they were in what, Kansas? then moved everything to Atlanta and will stay with them as Royal Bank has took them over. Besides, where else can you get 6% on checking? Though I'm still a little queesy about using ProxiWeb on my PalmPilot to bank wirelessly. I just wish s1 would do more partnerships instead of each bank stupidly trying to reinvent the wheel.
hahahahaha!
The Associates was what I was refering to when i said that MBNA sucked "but not as bad as my first CC company".
hehehe
My first reaction is who will be the first to try and port Linux to their penguin credit card?
There is no reasonable defense against an idiot with an agenda
:wq
Well the application for asks for US specific things such as social security number and these things are normally specific to the country they are issued in. Even if you could get it in other countries you'd probably have to pay your bills in US dollars.
Of course, it has been pointed out that this bank does have a UK branch so they could be asked to consider offering this service to their UK customers.
--
I agree the telemarketer harassment sounds pretty crappy. But not everybody does that, I don't think I've ever gotten an unsolicited call from my card companies.
What kind? I've used a debit card to rent them before (A mastercard, but it should make no difference) I didn't run into trouble.
Of all the comments I've ever posted, this is definately one of them
I have never had an issue with this, and have done it numerous times. The issue, as far as I know, is that car rental places, and often hotels and such will place a hold on some amount far more than your bill ($1,000 hold for a $250 car rental and such) so if you don't have a fair amount of excess cash floating in that account, you can "run out of credit" even when you really have plenty.
I've also seen instances, though it never happened to me, where these holds and such profiled the card as 'unusual use' and it got placed into a fraud protection hold.
I'd go for the Swedish one as well.... You've actually moved to Sweden? wow! - I thought everyone was leaving :-) ..Been hearing a lot of "last man out shuts down the server" lately ;-)
Check out this article on affinity credit cards before you jump in.
You were a moderator with 5 points. You should have read the moderator guidelines before you did any moderating
then why dont I see a little lock in my (work mandataed) internet exploder information bar?
I've had credit cards do this for me as well. I tried to get the $25 dropped for the $1.57 incident, they refused. This was Capital One bank BTW. They did eventually drop the whole $50 after I closed the account. But the aggrivation they put me through leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
so now I have two cards at 9.9%. I just called up and complained and threatened to cancel my card.
Why'd you complain about that?
Of all the comments I've ever posted, this is definately one of them
I actually recently switched TO first union, got myself one of their CAP accounts. Not bad on fees (a $90 annual fee or something since I don't have $250,000 in financial business with them), but there's a on-line brokerage, fee-free on-line billpay, fee-free on-line account management. Free use of ATM, both First Union and not, Free use of tellers also, free checks. As for the credit card, I haven't had issues with my credit account, or my margin account yet. No complaints here, nothing like the run-arounds I'd get regularly at Mellon Bank (the only bank I know of which literally lost a deposited check)
If I had to pick the best vendor, I'd say Chemical Bank. They frequently offer "tranfer your balance to us and the interest rate on that money will stay at 10% until you pay it off!" deals. That's all I use it for (payments apply to that deal before the ~18% purchase balance, and I don't want to dilute the good rate), but they should have thought that out more carefully. :-)
If you trust the people with the information you've chosen to send them, why do you care if the form might have been tampered with?
This is a great new idea! A way to make some decent money...
EC
EverCode
Considering how much more careful you have to be about who you give your debit card number to, I thought it was just to avoid having to mail out payments on it.
heh, nothing like having a penguin in your pocket!!
Really? I'd much rather schedule and let my bank mail the payments - they're much less likely to forget.
You get a free Linux Fund t-shirt too!
Good idea
Would like to see the extended to the UK (I know MBNA have an operation over here as I used to have one of their cards). Guess it's time to hassle them directly.
M
At a typical 3% purchase fee, just $700 worth of books and new hardware would give MBNA $21. A small part of that action is enough to keep the MasterCard network going.
So, I used a special unique email address. Anyone ;)
want to take bets on how many days before I get
junk email at it?
My blog: http://www.seebs.net/log/ --- My iPhone/iPad app: http://www.seebs.net/seebsfrac/
-Brent
Well, here's the early data: The 'confirm'
message has a domain which you can't send email
to at all; the domain exists, but there's no
MX records or anything, and you can't send
email there.
Very disappointing.
My blog: http://www.seebs.net/log/ --- My iPhone/iPad app: http://www.seebs.net/seebsfrac/
It'd be great to see something like that here in the UK (and in other countries too) because a credit cards makes a great way to contribute to a cause you support (in this case Linux) without really doing anything apart from buy things you were going to buy anyway.
I wonder what the interest in such a scheme would be and if anyone is able to offer and UK specific advice on being able to set such a scheme up.
I'd be interested in:
1) How many people in the UK would use a similar style card.
2) How you'd like the money distributed (i.e. to what projects)
3) How to go about setting up such a project in the UK.
Reply to this thread or email me if you're interested.
--
We are an incorporated non profit.
You can just give us money, but this seemed easyer and cooler.
Benjamin
I guess it could be worse. At least it isn't affiliated with First Union -- the worst credit card company in the world.
Would have been neater and more appropriate if they got one via a 100% Internet Bank, like Security First Network Bank (www.sfnb.com). I've had all my accounts with them for over three years now, and can pay bills, move balances, etc, all on the web.
I didn't see mention of it, but I'd sure hope you can manage and pay your Linux MasterCard account on-line. We are nerds after all..
If you want a cheap credit card, then no, this isn't the best choice. If you want to support Linux development in a relatively painless way, this is a great choice. Especially if you don't carry a balance.
The form's action URL is encrypted. When you're filling out the form, you're on an unencrypted page. This is fine. Anyone snooping will only see the form itself (blank) being sent to you.
When you submit the form back to the server, it's submitted via an encrypted URL. No one will see what you send back.
In the immortal words of Socrates, "I drank what?!?"
MBNA sucks (though not as bad as my first CC company). I have two of their cards. They...
:-)
1. don't have a website where you can view your transaction history, balance, pay online, etc...
2. are in the east coast so it takes a few days for mail to get there from the Northwest
3. assume their customers are morons by sending "Convenience Checks" that you'd have to be a complete imbecile to use
4. telemarket. This hasn't happened in a while, but they have done it. When I moved recently, I refused to give them my new phone #. I've *never* received a call from a CC company except for telemarketing. SCREW them.
Anyone know of a CC company that doesn't beleive their customers are idiots? I'll change in a heartbeat.
But if I stick with MBNA, I *might* switch to the Penguin card.
Nope. That's linuxfund.com, not LinuxFund.org
If this thing really is a Linux Card, I want to see it boot and run! How much processing power is embedded in the smart cards, anyway?
I was saying why brother posting a "me too" comment when I can apply online today! Guess I will call them.
CY
They're offering real money to developers, not just credit. "What's even better is that for every new account opened and for every purchase made with the card, MBNA America Bank, N.A., (the issuer of the credit card) will make a contribution to the Linux Fund at no additional cost to you..."
Guess what? Even if you pay the balance in full by Internet each month long before it is due they got you. This happened to me this month: They cashed $1286.86 from the last month balance of $1286.87. One cent got lost somehow. But I have proof that What I typed in their web payment system was the actual balance, and not a cent less. Anyways, a fat finance charge of $32 got charged to my account. See for yourself if you want to trust... Cheers
That's what debit cards are for. I don't use my credit cards anymore now that I'm out of college and make enough not to, but I still have the balances I ran up during college, and I'm working to pay them off.
I agree the telemarketer harassment sounds pretty crappy. But not everybody does that, I don't think I've ever gotten an unsolicited call from my card companies.You're lucky. I took the day off from work yesterday, and had two of them!
If you are still not convinced, here are two more things that Credit Card companies do that irritate me:
1) They modify their agreements (terms of use) anytime they feel like at, and despite the name, you don't have to agree.
2) With some, if you close the account, they'll raise your rate on your remaining balance. Some will even charge you a fee for closing the account!
Of all the comments I've ever posted, this is definately one of them
i've had my company call me...
i got a new visa from Yahoo! and when i first started using it, i bought so many things on one day that they disabled it and called me to make sure it really was me!
I thought that was a "Good Thing".
get your dirty sig off me, you filthy APE!
Then you shouldn't ever buy anything from anyone with a credit card.. The majority of transactions happen with NO encryption.. Just becouse it's on an SSL connection when you send it, doesn't mean they keep it that way.. Trust me. And 'SPEC don't use Citibank.. Their idea of card encryption is a simple Capt. Crunch encoding..
-- I'm the root of all that's evil, but you can call me cookie..
Every time I'm anywhere near a bank I get this overpowering feeling like I'm about to be taken by P.T. Barnum... thanks MBNA for proving my instincts once again.
Considering that this card has a lower interest rate that the average. It seems safe to assume that the amount going to linux fund will be less also. If they don't mind I'll just send them a check for $20.00 a year a get a regular card.
Conscience is the inner voice which warns us that someone may be looking.
-- H. L. Mencken
MBNA should have the form encrypted. Let's make it clear. Can anybody find a good e-mail address to flood.
Doesn't this fly in the face of the basic principles of Open Source?
_ __________
Let's finance our non - proprietary endeavours and fight the evil proprietary software companies by using another source of proprietary income? It doesn't make sense. Having worked for a credit card company, I would hazard a guess that many software companies that we dissaprove of operate with more scruple than the credit card industry.
To modernize an old euphemism, this looks like a case of the fridge calling the stove "almond".
______________________________________
$which weed
lower cost. result? lower aprs. just thought people might want to choose function over form... www.nextcard.com www.aria.com www.wingspanbank.com i know for a fact nextcard has a great feature where you can pay credit card bills online, no icky stamps/late fees.
If you take his estimated 100k cards and 2 million
in profit then you are each giving 20 bucks a year
to support linux. Why not just send 20 bucks
to linus and not deal with all the interest. You
are gonna pay at least hundreds in intrest if you
keep a balance. There are cards lower then 12.99
out there with no anual fee. Is there a REAL non
profit org setup that helps linux expand and grow?
I would be all willing to donate to a real non
profit org that has a track record of doing good
things for linux.
It states right in the article that this guy is a
for profit company that is looking to make a
decent living off this card. Yes he is gonna fund
some projects but I am sure less then a million
would make it to those. And thats less then 10
bucks a year..
Something to think about..
Mike
They screwed up the design! The penguin on those cards looks slow and stupid! The head is all wrong!
Not to mention the fact you have to be a US citizen (I'm Canadian, can't they mail the damned card across the border?!)
Sigh. Time to go plot a killing spree again.
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
Hmmm... That's funny. I have about $100,000 worth of credit on my cards. I get bills. I pay them. I have no problems. Perhaps you should let your mommy & daddy hold your credit cards for you so you don't do bad things with them...
I know everyone knows how they work, but as someone who worked in a credit card company, you learn how they really work. Important rules when dealing with credit companies.
1. Never end a conversation with customer service regarding late fees like the situation above without speaking to a supervisor. Many (if not most) customer service representitives can not handle/ will not handle the removal of fees themselves and often do not know how. Many are college/high school students who are under-trained and don't know the policy. The others usually just follow the company policy without any regard to the customer.
2.If things are VERY important, make sure you write to the company and confirm over the phone that they receive the letter. Phone conversations are not legally binding, and allthough most phone conversations will be followed up, they are not legally required. Written communication MUST be followed up. Not sure how email ties in since we had not online services.
3. Companies should have a do not promote feature, USE IT. This prevents the company from forwarding your name/address/phone to telemarketers. Once again, do this my mail.
4. If someone tries to sell you credit protection, ask speciffically what it offers. Some states offer that if the cardholder dies, they will pay up to $???? on the balance. This is ironic since on many cards, if the account holder dies the balance is written off as uncollectable.
I believe all the information above is correct (but it has been 5 years since I worked there) so p[lease correct me if I'm wrong.
--- Linux... a college project gone horribly right
I used to bank at a bank called Merchant's Bank which got bought out by First Fidelity (which later merged to form First Union). After FF took over, fees went up, conveniences were lost. I eventually left for a different bank (Corestates). Guess what? FU bought them too. I moved out of the state just before that happened though.
I've never dealt directly with FU (except for a Student Loan), but friends and family still do, and many of them are switching to other banks because they hate it.
Of all the comments I've ever posted, this is definately one of them
The fact that you even have a debit card is a very bad idea. A. You lose interest on your money when it's removed immediately. B. You have no protection. Someone steals your debit card, they drain your checking account, you're SOL. Witha credit card, you're liable for $25, even if somebody goes on a spending spree with it. Debit cards are bad. Credit cards are good.
So it might be cheaper for them only to make a Mastercard.
The going rate these days for interest bearing accounts is about 3% or less. Credit Cards often charge 21-24%. I'd rather lose the 3% than pay the 24%.
Of all the comments I've ever posted, this is definately one of them
Well.. MBNA DOES have a website where you can view your transaction history and do all the nice neato banking stuff that other credit cards let you do online. The catch -- they DON'T ADVERTISE IT!! I know, i've looked everywhere on the web for it. The only way I found out about it is by calling the 1-800# on the back of my card and I just happened to ask the rep. http://www.mbnanetaccess.com Enjoy!
Argh... you're right. I just remembered: a few weeks ago, I opened a new account at an independant video rental store because I was sick of Blockbuster's censorship. One of the things they asked me for was a "real" credit card, and they didn't want my debit card. So I just handed over the rarely-used VISA and then forgot about it.
I guess I better rethink tossing the "real" VISA. Thanks for the reminder. *grumble*
---
Have a Sloppy day!
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
This is very true, fortunately my parents warned me, and told me the first thing to do when I get an appartment is put all the furniture, etc. on credit, let some of the balance sit there for about 2-3 months, (pay off a portion each month), then you will have an established credit line. And then in the future, just use the credit card like a debit card. (Don't let a balance sit). It worked for me, when I went to get a mortage, I had no problems. They actually pre-approved me for twice as much as I needed for the house. This is especially impressive, since I was self-employed (I had been self employed for 3 years though).
-- Keith Moore
This sig is the express property of someone.
Old IBM keyboard bought at a garage sale -- $2
Since when do garage sales take Mastercard?
For more information, click here.
You may not realize it, but for every transation you make the place you use your card is charged a small fee. Generally this fee is not passed on to the person using the card (accually its passed on to all the customers in the form of higher prices). Anyways a percent of that fee, and probably also a percent of all interest, goes to the linux fund. They estimate that about 2 million dollars will be collected in these funds if there are about 100,000 users. Wow personally that surprises me that the average credit card user would have atleast 200 dollars in fees and interest in the average year (200 dollars in assuming 100% of fees and interest goes to linux fund).
I find it ironic that you can apply for a credit card online, but if you want to prevent the bank from sharing your unlisted telephone line with greedy telemarketers, you must SNAIL MAIL them.
How's that for obstruction? Mail a LETTER? At my expense? Yeesh, what's wrong with an email or a checkbox on the same secure form.
This isn't Linux Credit Card's fault, it's the bank's. I signed up regardless, but I'ze got to get stamps today. I haven't mailed anything in MONTHS, aside from shipping things like cables, etc.
-INTERNET PRIVACY POLICY-
This Web site is published by MBNA America Bank, N.A., the principal subsidiary of MBNA
Corporation. The MBNA Web server automatically recognizes and records domain names, but not
electronic mail addresses. Information gathered may be used to improve the content of the MBNA
Web site. Information supplied to MBNA via the Internet, such as postal addresses or telephone
numbers, may be used for marketing and/or research and development purposes. Information
provided on applications for credit automatically authorizes MBNA to review the applicant's credit
history, employment history, and/or other information, and to share with others, if necessary, such
information and credit experience.
Information about you or your account may be shared among MBNA and its related
companies for marketing or administrative purposes. You may prohibit such sharing of
information, other than information pertaining solely to transactions or experiences
between you and MBNA (or an MBNA-related company), by writing to MBNA at P.O.
Box 15342, Wilmington, DE 19850 and including your name, address, home phone number
and the applicable MBNA account number(s). MBNA is at your service 24 hours a day,
365 days a year at 1.800.421.2110.
If these guys at Linuxfund.org are sooooo k-kool, then why do they have such a freaking lame Frontpage website. They are not true beleivers. If you want to fund linux, buy 3 stocks: Redhat (rhat), Applix (aplx) and Corel (I forget their symbol, they're Canadian anyway). These Linuxfund clowns look like amatuers.
How does a post with bad arithmetic get boosted to 2 points (as of noon on Friday)?
$20*100,000=$2,000,000.
Still, everyone understands that the Linux community isn't going to see $2,000,000 from this because 100,000 folks aren't going to sign up. (I don't know that $20/customer is reasonable either.)
Ok -- I actually traded a list of Mastercard numbers (kidding!) :)
At least no one has griped about the price on the motherboard/processor yet....
Save the whales. Feed the hungry. Free the mallocs.
It is now fully encrypted.
Sorry about this.
Benjamin
I had the exact same problem with MBNA telemarketers. It got pretty rediculous. I called MBNA and told them I wanted the calls to stop or I would cancel the card. It worked -- the calls stopped.
Save the whales. Feed the hungry. Free the mallocs.
I really wish they would have had an artist create their credit card.
There's nothing worse than handing someone a poorly designed credit card when you go to charge something. Especially when you are at a restaurant or an expensive store.
I don't know what's worse, that faded out brown penguin with the cheezy platinum logo in the upper right or the blue card with the funny offset box.
Maybe I'm nit picking. There are some pretty nice looking credit cards out there, but they are hard to find with a decent rate.
MBNA actually makes some pretty full color deals of Hawaii and what not. They also make cards for several other companies that are quite pretty, the Garfield one is surprisingly well done as is the Gateway Computer one.
--
The world is neither black nor white nor good nor evil, only many shades of CowboyNeal.
Overclocked Celeron Processor and Motherboard -- $125
Old IBM keyboard bought at a garage sale -- $2
Mail-order installation CD -- $6
Having a complete system running Free Software -- priceless
/* I can't BELIEVE I was the first guy to use this gag on this article! */
Save the whales. Feed the hungry. Free the mallocs.
I am going to max out the linux card on microsoft products, then fake my death.
They really are, their customer service
is great, I have called them and disputed a cuople
of transactions, and they tell me not to pay
the transaction and puts it under investigation.
Within a couple of weeks they get back to you
with the result.
But an AMEX card costs a fortune, you can't
carry a balance and most merchants hate them
because their high charges. Noone is perfect...
- They do have a website for online account review and payment.
- They've never made a telemarketing call.
- My interest rate is 9.99% - great for plastic.
The online payment feature also remembers the last account you made a payment from so you don't have to reenter your checking account number each month. I can make my payment in a couple of minutes and be done with it. The web site organization is pretty clean and easy to use.Note, they are affiated with BankOne.
Yes, they do send out convience checks, my shredder loves them.
There's more to it than this.
Donation instructions are here and here Good luck!
P.S. And, unlike this credit card gimmick, you really know how much you've given!
P.P.S. If you hate your CC being passed from MBNA to FirstUSA to CapitalOne and back, get it from a bank that is big enough - Chase, Citibank.
When credit cards modify their agreements they always give you the option of finishing up a certain period of time (like 1 year) under the terms of the old contract. After that point if you don't want the new contract, then your business arrangement is ended.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
That's what debit cards are for. I don't use my credit cards anymore now that I'm out of college and make enough not to, but I still have the balances I ran up during college, and I'm working to pay them off.
Why have a credit card at all during college? When I was a freshman, I knew other FRESHMEN who had run up 5000 dollars in debt! And we'd only been in school a month!
Granted, I trust myself more than that, but since I didn't have a steady income during the school year, I didn't see the point in running up debt. The only possible use I could see for a credit card right now is to have in case of emergencies.
Communication is only possible between equals
I totally agree. The other thing that paying your bill every month gets you is a very good credit rating. I know someone who did everything with this checking/debit cards and he's having a Hell of a time getting a Mortage (for his first house).
Having a blank credit raiting is almost as bad as a bad credit rating if you want to buy a house!
Good Fast Cheap. Pick any two.
If this is true, I'll use the card. If I see the fund being used well, i'll continue to use the card, otherwise I'll just cut it up.
By the way, don't keep a balance, use it for stuff you know you can pay back and it costs zero. no big deal.
later
http://www.linuxfund.com/ uses FrontPage 4.0 *cough* *gag* (is that 2000?) Ya, they really care about Linux a lot. Just another company wanting to cash in on the Linux rush. Damn it, use Emacs!
Although the statement was incorrect, Darik brought up a good point and if there's anyone watching who's creating a secure web site, remember that you should also encrypt the form itself. It's more user-friendly and will avoid confusion.
Now if it just would run Linux too ;))
I already use my "IBM Mid America Employee's Federal Credit Union"** Visa Debit card for most of my purchases. Being able to flip out a Linux credit card to pay for Office 2000 or a piece of the latest USB-based hardware (some more USB speakers, or a modem, or that Video digitizer I have wanted for awhile now), or another copy of Windows 98 upgrade (so I can legally install it on a second machine on my home network) would be way cool. There would be no point in flashing it at the computer keyboard when I buy a Linux or BSD CD at Cheapbytes, and I'm not dumb enough to buy a boxed Linux version at a superstore (pay for 'support' so the idiots at RedHat can fumble around when I have a problem? Surely you jest...).
(** I have never worked for IBM, but my father did for 27 years, so I got into the C.U. when I was a dependant)
The sad thing is, if you use your Linux card to buy MS products, Bill will earn more money from the transaction than the Linux fund will!
Of all the comments I've ever posted, this is definately one of them
And when is the Linux toilett paper available? Rene OS/2 opens Windows .....
"3.9% Introductory Annual Percentage Rate (APR)? on Cash Advance Checks and Balance Transfers.* A low 12.99% fixed APR after introductory period.?" Is that a question? They're asking _us_ if they have a 12.99% APR?
Venture not further for here ye be dragons!
If you "Apply Online" personal information like your bank account numbers, annual income, and SSN are submitted unencrypted across the Internet.
A financial institution that does not use crypto by force of habit can not be trusted with my money.
Sounds great !!!! Where do I sign on (you only need 1,999,999 more dollars.)
So long and thanks for all the fish . . . !!!
It's encrypted. According to the page source, the form gets sent to:
c ept_form.pl
https://al.webapply.com/cgi-bin/app_listener/ac
The last thing I want is another credit card, I don't care if it has Tux on it or not. I am sick of dealing with the credit card companies.
It's not bad enough that many of them charge over 21% interest, if your payment shows up a day late (thanks to the postal service), BANG! $25 Late charge. I once had a card with a balance of $1.57, I paid a little late, and they charged a $25 late charge. I called them and complained, I got another bill stating that the late charges were up to $50! They charged a late charge on the late charge even though it 1) wasn't yet late. 2) The original balance was paid.
They will constantly try to get you to buy "credit protection" which is nothing more than a scheme to increase your balance each month, since the interest + the cost of the protection will often be greater than the minimum payment.
If you have cards, you are guaranteed to constantly get harassing phone calls with offers that are supposedly too good to be true. Tell them that you aren't interested, they keep on, hang up on them, and they call back saying "Sorry sir, there must've been a problem with the line."
You think you are being smart and get a "low interest" rate card ( = 12% ). Guess what? Sooner or later the bank that issued the card will either sell it or merge with another bank, and your interest will go up. My wife had a card that went from 12% up to 24% because of this.
Of all the comments I've ever posted, this is definately one of them
I'd like to see a UK credit card for Linux. well actually I'd like to see an entire Linux bank account (cheque book, credit card and switch card), then whatever I did I'd be helping Linux. As long as it's not run through Barclays.
I contacted the Linux Fund people and they are planning to have their card available in the UK although not until January.
The reply I got was:
Yes, we are planing on launching in January.
Benjamin
At 03:48 PM 8/27/99 +0100, you wrote:
>Are you planning to offer your Linux credit card in the UK?
> [rest snipped]
--
The issue is just as you said - but you have to sign a form, and you have to put your funds "on hold". With a real credit card, you don't have to worry about this issue, and there is a bit less bureaucracy.
In my case, the employee in question didn't know how to handle the transaction since it did not arise frequently enough.
sigh...and I thought the whole point of these cards was going to be that merchants could not detect that you were really using a checking accont....
You were a moderator with 5 points. You should have read the moderator guidelines before you did any moderating
Try it. Port Linux to a PIC. I dare you. I have a 16F84 here on my desk with a whopping 1024 words of program memory. It currently plays a popular Beatles song through a piezo buzzer. Incidentally, it almost got me arrested in the airport in Vancouver:
"What is this, tattoo equipment?"
"No, that's a soldering iron. Tattoo artists generally have many tattoos themselves."
"You could hijack the plane with this!"
"Um.. It plays `Hey Jude.'"
"I'm going to have to bring the police in."
"What!?!?"
"...Um, or you could check that with your luggage."
"Some of that stuff is really expensive and owned by the company I work for, I don't want it to go through the Play-Doh fun factory of luggage."
"We'll just put a fragile sticker on it."
"Ah, the `beat this up` flag..."
I got away eventually. Phew. No trouble in St. John's, no trouble in Halifax, no trouble in Ottawa. Just Vancouver.
Wow, that got off topic....
Actually, I've done realtime on a Z180 before.
The rest of you can work on it, tweak it, hack that sucker til the balance is nil!
Yes, you can designate a charity. But it still goes into the general fund unless that charity gets earmarked that way for more funds than its initial allocaton. Otherwise, you "directed" donation makes no difference; its regular cut is reduced dollar for dollar.
As the Webmaster for Linuxfund.ORG I can assure you that all the HTML on our website was hand-coded in vi. (well ok, all accept the navigation bar's image map.)
:)
Now let's not start any vi vs. emacs flame wars here
Please visit: http://linuxfund.org.
TIA
-Aaron
Aaron Greenberg The LinuxFund.org; Webmaster webmaster@linuxfund.org
"Yes, we are planing on launching in January."
So I guess us Canadians will be able to get them too.
Do you even know anything about perl? -- AC Replying to Tom Christiansen post.
Why dosen't the FSF or the SPI do something along this line?
It's an excellent idea, but I'd rather put an orginization that I TRUST behind it.
Got it from a helpful (!) telemarketer when I complained about high interest rates. He was trying to sell me additional money at a lower rate... Prepare for long holds and an indirect or two, but if you have a good payment record, you can get much better rates by threatenting to take your business elsewhere. Even on existing balances. Banks want to keep customers after the introdutory period. They hate the low interest rate chasers. So that's what you have to threaten them with :-) MBNA Interest Rate Renegotiation # 800-645-6682 (This would be for folks who already suffer with high rate MBNA cards, nothing to do with Linux cards, which I certainly think is a good idea. Sort of a ... free market solution :-) As is demanding fairness from your credit holders. The free market is so much more than just money. but i digress...
Why not donate to Software In the Public Interest? (http://www.spi-inc.org/)
I wish someone would file a class action suit against MBNA instead of encourging them to disregard the Telephone Consumer Protection Act even further. Technically, my phone number should be on a "do-not-call" list until approx 2008.
Around 1998, my employer gave out the name and numbers of all his employees for telemarketing an MBNA credit card with the my company's logo on it. Each of the *four* times that MBNA contacted me (during an one week period) I made it clear I wanted to be on their "do-not-call" list. I also requested each time (and was refused) information on the company's phone number or address. The second person who called said I didn't need to be put on a don't-call-list since "this will be the only time we will be calling you." (Despite the fact that he was a second person that week.) When asked if that ment they would not be calling for a period of 10 years, he laughed and said that no company can promise they won't call for 10 years. The third person complettely ignored the request to be put in the don't-call-list and continued his sales pitch. The fourth person just hung-up when pressured to provide the company phone number or mailing address.
If this new event means that MBNA will be trying to buy my registration information with offical linux distributers then I guess it is time I stop registering linux products I buy. I NEVER EVER want to have to deal with MBNA's complette disregard for the TCPA ever ever again. They have to be the most unpressional assholes to deploy credit cards.
They're just offering $2 million of credit, not actual money for writing software. I'm getting ready for a bankruptcy settlement but have been more productive as a Linux hobbyist than I could have ever been answering WinNT service calls for a living. Don't take on a project unless you can pay for it yourself.
Linux - never leave the office without it.
You say you want a revolution?
Cash is for me! We need $3 bills or something with Tux on them, instead.
This sounds very cool, but what if we get a Beowolf cluster of these Linux platinum cards together? Imagine the power that twenty of these cards could provide when working together. Don't buy at the shopping mall... buy the shopping mall!
If you are Canadian, try doing the same. Their e-mail is: fund@linuxfund.org
h tml).
-------------
I think that your new LinuxFund.org credit card setup with MBNA is a grea idea to allow me to support Linux development.
However, it is only available in the US. MBNA Canada also has an "affinity marketing program" - it includes things like NHL hockey and non-profits like Ducks Unlimited (see http://www.mbnacanada.com/english/cards/affinity.
Is there any chance of getting a similar credit card to be issued by MBNA Canada?
-------
Do you even know anything about perl? -- AC Replying to Tom Christiansen post.
I'm a Canadian... I used to work retial (last year)... I noticed that the majority of Canadians use VISA and not MasterCard, (almost nobody uses AMEX). So, after having noticed this, I started noticing that some stores don't allow MC, only VISA. So if I were to support this, I would be limiting (slightly) the number of places I could shop... So, the question now becomes, why don't they come out with a Linux VISA as well... cover all the bases.
Just my $.02
Beware TPB
We could start "Tux Bux" as a form of currency for the Open Source movement. Ideally this could have been started before the Redhat IPO and they could have just specified the number of Tux Bux required to buy each share (it would have been better than the E*Trade fiasco.)
As the Webmaster for Linuxfund.ORG I can assure you that all the HTML on our website was hand-coded in vi. (well ok, all accept the navigation bar's image map.)
:)
Now let's not start any vi vs. emacs flame wars here
Please visit: http://linuxfund.org.
TIA
-Aaron
Aaron Greenberg The LinuxFund.org; Webmaster webmaster@linuxfund.org
While many of you probally think having tux on a credit card is cool (heck, even I do), it probally won't get too many questions about Linux. Most people will see the penguin, assume it's some enviromental cause, and then totally miss the point. Maybe a computer somewhere on it would help, I just think that with the current design, a lot of the population wouldn't get it.
I used to have a PNC Visa credit card. Unknowning to me it was sold to MBNA who instantly (without any notification) jacked up the interest rate to 21.9% In addition they charged me a $29 late fee because my auto-payment system didn't work anymore (of course not! payment was supposed to go to a new bank, but they didn't tell me! -- and NO, despite huge arguments, and long waits on the phone, they refused to take off the charge). I'M EXTREMELY CAUTIOUS OF MBNA AND WILL NEVER USE ONE OF THEIR CREDIT CARDS AGAIN. You're much better off giving some money directly to the FSF, or such, and save yourself from being screwed by this corporation.
because yesterday I noticed that the Woodstock people are offering a card and I wondered how long it would be before Slashdot sold out and did the same. Sure enough, here it is... Well, close enough.
I called MBNA, my card was mailed two days ago. Should be here in the next couple of days. This is old news. :( Torsten :)
Other cards to avoid:
:-).
Providian Bank -- did the same to me as MBNA did to A.C. above -- sent a card at low interest rate, then at 1st late payment (caused by slow postal service in my rural community at the time) hiked the interest rate to 22%. I payed it off and cancelled it immediately.
Fleet -- got an advertisement in the mail. Reading the fine print, they do the exact same thing. One of my other credit cards recently got bought by Fleet. After getting the runaround with their customer service department while trying to get a fraudulent charge removed from my bill (I am about to mail their company president a copy of "Knock Your Socks Off Service" to give to the service department manager), I am in the process of cancelling them too.
Anybody have a NON-ripoff credit card company? I'm running out of folks to cancel
-E
Send mail here if you want to reach me.
silsor> cool - a Linux Credit Card. /dev/dsp for 10 minutes :| :D /. is MSN for Linux :) :( /. slashdotted segfault, again :P
king-> i'll get 2.2.12
Ham> silsor: that is cool, where?
king-> sli: who distributes it? GNU?
silsor> DeBehr: do you have inetd and stuff running?
RelDrgn> Ham: hehe tubular bells is fun when you need something to occupy
king->
silsor> Ham: king-: www.slashdot.org - GNU? hahahaha!
king-> s/sli/silsor/
king-> silsor -> i don't go there
king-> it's the MSN of linux
Ham> GPL'd credit card. You can modify your credit history!
silsor> king-: is not. That's www.redhat.com
cherem> heh
king-> oh yeah
king-> heh
Ham> or anyone's, for that matter
cherem> silsor: no,
cherem> RH is just MS
* cherem shudders.
king-> i'm waiting to see a big gay MSN logo at the top of redhat.com
silsor> Ham: and every store that accepts the GPL'd card has to allow access to their finances
cherem> argh
silsor> king-: amen.
* Rootus realizes that all his servers runs MS , oh my god!
king-> http://www.freespeech.org/owf/msn/
Rootus>
cherem> JServ needs to be more verbose about its internals.
RelDrgn> hahaha
cherem> we have one sunos server, and about 15 NT
Ham> silsor: and while you can pay for the packaging, support and transport, you can't pay for the actual product.
~ Give me 101 plastic soldiers, and I will conquer the world.
The guy created all the pages in Frontpage (take a look at the html source). I can see any of the fonts on my Solaris machine.