I am a Merchant, and American Express almost always does full validation for me. Especially if it's a large amount. They will validate the card id, and validate the delivery address and name.
Some countries operate as "franchises" and I have often had Amex even RING the local franchise in that country to validate the cards for me.
So all in all, Im pretty happy with Amex.
Mastercard, and Visa on the otherhand, suck.
I can only hope that the Verified by Visa system will have more takeup. But again, it's still only a hack on a flawed trust system.
As a retailer of Linux products, I am getting sick and tired of seeing Mandrakesoft CONSISTANTLY screw up their sales model, and then cry poor after...
We have attempted to get through to them with ways to correct their business model, and turn their sales around, but have been continually ignored. (Yes, that means you PearsonEd/Macmillian as well)
How to turn your sales around:-
1. Stop announcing software 1 MONTH!! before you actually have product on the shelves. This practice is just downright stupid. People are not not mostly cheapskates, but they ARE impatient. Redhat have this shit sorted out well, and hence, users don't bother with $5 CD's, or downloading it, when they can get a boxed product NOW. It's all about managing expectation.
2. Sell a low end product, we trialled an official pocketbook style product in Australia, and it was received VERY well, and would have done MUCH better if we had the product more than 1 and a half MONTHS after announcement!! Then to have the product axed for the next release. (The pocketbook had 3 CDs and an installation guide shrink wrapped together in a folder like thing). This pocketbook satisfies the low end consumers, and gives them a manual so they don't get into trouble. You get good Branding, some profit, and happy customers, who will likely look at upgrading to BIGGER products next time around. And, Branding is EVERYTHING.
This low end product can also be sold through Newsagency chains, and be very lucritave.
Redhat have their shit together, why can't MandrakeSoft? It's not rocket science, LISTEN to your resellers!!
* No access to site licencing * No OEM product * No Marketing Tools (Posters, Leaflets, Handouts,Shwag)
We have lost heaps of tenders and quotes because we were just unable to provide site-licences!
Oh yeah, sure, lets just send our business over to Sun so they can take the business that we advertised and marketing for.
Basically, Sun think the product is SO good, it will sell itself.
When I try and get Staroffice into retailers, it pales in comparison to just have a box on the shelf, when their shop is plastered with A1 and A0 Office XP posters that MS gave them.
There are already USB "thumb drives" that have
8M and up Flash ram on them.. Nothing new here.
However, what IS interesting, is the iKey 1000/2000 from Rainbow Technology.
The 1000 has about 8 k of ram, and actually has some Crypto functions on the key!! So you can do proper hidden key authentication. Also can contain certs.
I have been reverse engineering this device a bit for Linux, and have some preliminary code to drive it, however am talking with Rainbow about getting proper specs and/or GPL'ed SDK code..
The ikey 2000 has full PKI on it, so it can actually be used to generate full Public/Private key pairs, were you NEVER see the private key.. (And can't get at it at all).
Ill be working on this one for Linux once I have finished the 1000.
One of the other not so obvious features of
Win4Lin, is that it runs REALLY well over Remote X. (Ie to Thin Client Terminals) And with Win4Lin 2 having multi-user functionality, you can run a nice little enterprise server for Thin clients, where you deliver say StarOffice for their main Office functionality, peppered with any legacy apps they need using Win4Lin. I have a few sites using something similar to this now. It really changes the "Desktop" option from being "Forget it" to.. "Hey.. we could do that" for most organisations. And once were on the desktop.. it makes it MUCH easier to migrate away thoes old Legacy apps.. and eventually not have win4lin at all!..
I can fully understand, and relate to companies requiring a faxed photocopy of someones card and ID.
It proves
A) You have the card B) You are prepared to be identified with the card.
We don't ship Credit card orders outside of Australia and NZ now without either prior arrangement, or faxed copies of cards and id, as out of the 20 odd international orders we received over the last 3 months, only 3 of them were legitimate.
As for verifiying the delivery address matches the card, this is VERY hit and miss, as it HAS to be done by the issuing bank.. So first.. I have to get the NAME and NUMBER of the issuing bank, NOT an easy task to start with. Then you actually have to CONTACT the bank.. yes.. International phone rates, at wierd hours.. Then it's up to the banks policy if they will even honor your request for validation... Then they might do it for you..
All this for a $10 order?? I think not.
And if we just run the gauntless, and let it go through anyway, in come the chargeback requests 3 months later. And guess who gets screwed... Us.. every time.
Talk about the biggest Dummy Spit! I heard they had tried to force the organisers into giving them the space for free, in return for launching Win2k there.. Looks like they told them were to go.. Tee hee.. The Expo is open till 9pm for Thursday, so come along.. Oh, and get a "Screw you guys, I'm running Linux" mug:)
I have indicated to Activision Australia my intent to pre-order a large quantity of Q3A for Linux for our store.. The people there will be forwarding my request directly to the sales manager and channel sales director of Activision. I hope this is going to send the message that we want the Linux version NOW, not later. I did express my concern that we could lose sales if they did not ship the product simultaniously. Heres hoping..
Slashdot Mirror
I am a Merchant, and American Express almost always does full validation for me. Especially if it's a large amount. They will validate the card id, and validate the delivery address and name.
Some countries operate as "franchises" and I have often had Amex even RING the local franchise in that country to validate the cards for me.
So all in all, Im pretty happy with Amex.
Mastercard, and Visa on the otherhand, suck.
I can only hope that the Verified by Visa system will have more takeup. But again, it's still only a hack on a flawed trust system.
Hear Hear!
:-
As a retailer of Linux products, I am getting sick and tired of seeing Mandrakesoft CONSISTANTLY screw up their sales model, and then cry poor after...
We have attempted to get through to them with ways to correct their business model, and turn their sales around, but have been continually ignored. (Yes, that means you PearsonEd/Macmillian as well)
How to turn your sales around
1. Stop announcing software 1 MONTH!! before you actually have product on the shelves. This practice is just downright stupid. People are not not mostly cheapskates, but they ARE impatient. Redhat have this shit sorted out well, and hence, users don't bother with $5 CD's, or downloading it, when they can get a boxed product NOW. It's all about managing expectation.
2. Sell a low end product, we trialled an official pocketbook style product in Australia, and it was received VERY well, and would have done MUCH better if we had the product more than 1 and a half MONTHS after announcement!! Then to have the product axed for the next release. (The pocketbook had 3 CDs and an installation guide shrink wrapped together in a folder like thing).
This pocketbook satisfies the low end consumers, and gives them a manual so they don't get into trouble. You get good Branding, some profit, and happy customers, who will likely look at upgrading to BIGGER products next time around. And, Branding is EVERYTHING.
This low end product can also be sold through Newsagency chains, and be very lucritave.
Redhat have their shit together, why can't MandrakeSoft? It's not rocket science, LISTEN to your resellers!!
Anthony
EverythingLinux.com.au
As a StarOffice 6.0 reseller..
:-
,Shwag)
We have
* No access to site licencing
* No OEM product
* No Marketing Tools (Posters, Leaflets, Handouts
We have lost heaps of tenders and quotes because we were just unable to provide site-licences!
Oh yeah, sure, lets just send our business over to Sun so they can take the business that we advertised and marketing for.
Basically, Sun think the product is SO good, it will sell itself.
When I try and get Staroffice into retailers, it pales in comparison to just have a box on the shelf, when their shop is plastered with A1 and A0 Office XP posters that MS gave them.
I would have really liked to hear how Win4Lin
NSSE Would have gone.. (Thats the Multi user version of Win4lin)..
Oh well
Anthony
There are already USB "thumb drives" that have
8M and up Flash ram on them.. Nothing new here.
However, what IS interesting, is the iKey 1000/2000 from Rainbow Technology.
The 1000 has about 8 k of ram, and actually has some Crypto functions on the key!! So you can do proper hidden key authentication. Also can contain certs.
I have been reverse engineering this device a bit for Linux, and have some preliminary code to drive it, however am talking with Rainbow about getting proper specs and/or GPL'ed SDK code..
The ikey 2000 has full PKI on it, so it can actually be used to generate full Public/Private key pairs, were you NEVER see the private key.. (And can't get at it at all).
Ill be working on this one for Linux once I have finished the 1000.
Anrhony
I believe this is covered in the mod_ssl faq..
It has something to do with them having a problem with SSL v3.
One of the other not so obvious features of
Win4Lin, is that it runs REALLY well over Remote X. (Ie to Thin Client Terminals) And with Win4Lin 2 having multi-user functionality, you can run a nice little enterprise server for Thin clients, where you deliver say StarOffice for their main Office functionality, peppered with any legacy apps they need using Win4Lin. I have a few sites using something similar to this now. It really changes the "Desktop" option from being "Forget it" to.. "Hey.. we could do that" for most organisations. And once were on the desktop.. it makes it MUCH easier to migrate away thoes old Legacy apps.. and eventually not have win4lin at all!..
Anthony
Err.. guys.. There already is a competator to
the MS Optical mouse.. it's been out for a while now.
The Genius NetScroll optical.
Has 5 buttons, and a wheel, and works on the same principle as the MS one.
It even has support in XFree86 4.x for all the buttons and wheel natively!
I can fully understand, and relate to companies requiring a faxed photocopy of someones card and ID.
It proves
A) You have the card
B) You are prepared to be identified with the card.
We don't ship Credit card orders outside of Australia and NZ now without either prior arrangement, or faxed copies of cards and id, as out of the 20 odd international orders we received over the last 3 months, only 3 of them were legitimate.
As for verifiying the delivery address matches the card, this is VERY hit and miss, as it HAS to be done by the issuing bank.. So first.. I have to get the NAME and NUMBER of the issuing bank, NOT an easy task to start with. Then you actually have to CONTACT the bank.. yes.. International phone rates, at wierd hours.. Then it's up to the banks policy if they will even honor your request for validation... Then they might do it for you..
All this for a $10 order?? I think not.
And if we just run the gauntless, and let it go through anyway, in come the chargeback requests 3 months later. And guess who gets screwed... Us.. every time.
Anthony
Talk about the biggest Dummy Spit! I heard they had tried to force the organisers into giving them the space for free, in return for launching Win2k there.. Looks like they told them were to go.. Tee hee.. :)
The Expo is open till 9pm for Thursday, so come along..
Oh, and get a "Screw you guys, I'm running Linux" mug
I have indicated to Activision Australia my intent to pre-order a large quantity of Q3A for Linux for our store.. The people there will be forwarding my request directly to the sales manager and channel sales director of Activision. I hope this is going to send the message that we want the Linux version NOW, not later. I did express my concern that we could lose sales if they did not ship the product simultaniously. Heres hoping..
Looking for a fast ISO mirror.. Anyone? Rsync. ftp.. whatever
I turned the PHP to html..
Wasen't really meant to have this kind
of load...
Is find now.. I also have the images
coming off another machine.. to split
the load.
I *JUST* got enuf CPU in to get the rsync
through..
Load did get above 80 on a P120
Anthony