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Re: Another web based business that dosn't get it

On Sun, 17 Apr 2005 19:31:10 -0500, Moe Trin 
   <ibuprofin@painkiller.example.tld> wrote:

> In article <d3sorr$21rv$1@godfrey.mcc.ac.uk>, Roy Schestowitz wrote:
> 
>>Moe Trin wrote:
> 
>>> But it works with every browser we tried!!!
>>
>>This reminds me of the days when on-line banking worked with virtually
>>nothing but IE. The banks were so paranoid (being
>>technologically-challenged as one would expect) so they denied access on
>>the basis of browser name. It was not even a matter of available/supported
>>features.
> 
> About two years ago, my primary bank rolled out their new electronic
> banking over the web bit, and had a demonstration setup in a shopping mall
> trying to attract new users. Techno-clown tries to interest me, spouting
> buzzwords like it's going out of style - yup, it's running on IE. I
> laughed, and started to move away, when the idiot assures me that it's
> safe, and what could go wrong...  till I point him back at his computer
> where a child (5-8 year-old) is gazing at the beautiful blue screen. 
> Techno-clown gets flustered, and restarts the computer, saying this is
> normal, only to discover that he can't log in, because the remote server
> says that he's already connected, and does he want to replace the existing
> session with a new one.  I complemented him on displaying a meaningful
> error message (to the world), but thought that the option would be rather
> insecure.

Indeed.  Like the ones which say "Hello <name>!  If you are not <name>
logout now."  Rather trusting that anyone stumbling on a logged-in
session will just logout when asked...

>>> Hello, FedEx?  (or UPS, or a few others)
> 
>>I know, but they won't provide all service types. It's express (and costly)
>>delivery.
> 
> Costly, you are correct. But here, they'll deliver anything that the official
> mail service will, and often in better condition. For a while, a bank was
> sending out junk mail (home mortgage refi offers) that way - I guess their
> marketing conslutant advised that there was a better chance of having the
> offer at least seen by someone other than the guy at the paper recycling
> facility, and it only cost ten times the price of regular junk mail.

No, /here/[1] they don't carry paper mail (letters etc.), plus they will
only deliver during working hours and require a signature (I work,
folks, and I don't have anyone at home!) -- or you can sometimes drive
25 miles (each way) on a Saturday morning to pick it up from their
depot, that's an extra 5 pounds or more in petrol plus 2 hours to get
there and back.

(Personally I've found some of the couriers less reliable than Royal
Snail, they've delivered eventually but only after the parcel has been
round half of the south of England.  Both FedEx and UPS have done that
to me...)

[1] This is a UK newsgroup, the name gives a clue (uk.comp.os.linux).

Chris C

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