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Editorial

I would like to share with you an interesting Customer Service experience I recently had. It's hard to believe in 2007 you would actually experience this type of absolute stupidity by a multinational company.

Recently I purchased a new Panasonic cordless office phone (GIGARANGE 1.8 Ghz DIGITAL). A great phone, works fine, no complaints. I now required a second handset to work with this new phone, so I went back to the company I purchased it from and was advised that they don't sell these addon phones "you have to get it from Panasonic, contact them" was the response. So I thought, lets see if they are available from any other stores. I went to all the well known stores that sell this type of equipment and they all sold the phone I already had purchased, and they all had the same story, "you have to get it from Panasonic, contact them"

I now thought it was time to contact Panasonic as obviously this was the only way I could purchase this addon handset. So I rang Panasonic and after listening to some music for 3 minutes was greeted by what I thought must have been my long lost friend, this person was customer service up to the eye balls. I explained what I wanted and with extreme efficiency was given a product number for the handset I required. I then asked how I purchase this item from Panasonic and was immediately advised that Panasonic do not see to the "GENERAL" public, I would have to go to a retailer to purchase the item.

Now I explained my previous experience with the stores I had already been to and I asked if I could be given a store name where I could actually purchase or order this item from. The answer was "sorry, we cannot give out this information as it is of a private nature". I then suggested to this person that they may like to read a good book called Catch 22, or maybe see the movie if their reading skills we not up to scratch. There was no reply, so I said goodbye and hung up.

Result: One Panasonic telephone for sale on eBay and hello Uniden...

Bruce Beresford, Manager & Editor

In this Issue:

• Featured Site - beezneez
• Aussies lose domains in Web host scandal
• Microsoft makes copying Vista a monster task
• Broadband ratings lifted
• Malware piggybacks on Windows updates
• Quotes of the day

Featured Site  

beezneez

beezneez is a boutique selling 'new and not' gear for your little honey.

We buy top quality pre-loved clothes from parents and carers when they are finished with them, from Target to Fred Bear as long as it is in great condition.

We offer a cash price or in store credit, which is more than the cash offer, so you choose which you would prefer.

The beezneez website was designed by Blush Design & Graphics and constructed by Engadine Web Services.

Visit the beezneez website...

Aussies lose domains in Web host scandal  

An unknown number of Australian companies and consumers have lost their Web sites -- and renewal fees -- hosted by a US-based company.

Web sites hosted by US-based Web host RegisterFly have been disappearing in dribs and drabs over the past year. The domains are "parked" -- generally when they have expired, but attempts to renew the domain by paying the fee mysteriously fail.

Justin Kulhawick is a former RegisterFly customer who has fielded an estimated 10,000 unique complaints about the company through www.RegisterFlies.com, since he set up the site a year ago. "I get e-mails every day from people begging me to help them," he told ZDNet Australia.

RegisterFly has a million customers -- hosting two million domain names and 300,000 Web sites -- in 120 countries.

Kulhawick alleges that other Web hosts are doing the same thing: parking domains and creaming off the renewal fees. He said some are apparently also reselling the domain names to others to test -- falsely creating customer "churn" to make more money... ZDNet Australia >>> more

Microsoft makes copying Vista a monster task  

With Windows XP, antipiracy measures were a bit of an afterthought. But with Windows Vista, Microsoft had pirates in its sights from the get-go.

Even the unique Vista retail packaging--a plastic box with one round corner--was designed, in part, to thwart counterfeiters. And the packaging is just the start; most of Microsoft's antipiracy work is built-into the software itself, meaning that just copying the code and getting a product key isn't enough.

"It's a different game for the counterfeiters," Cori Hartje, director of Microsoft's Genuine Software Initiative, said in an interview. "They're having to resort to this full attack on the product."

One such exploit was dubbed "Frankenbuild" because it merged bits of the beta versions of Windows Vista with the final product in an effort to defeat the validation checks built into the software. But, thanks to technology built into Vista, Microsoft was able to update its defenses and start flagging such systems--even those that initially passed activation--as illegitimate.

The antipiracy effort has been building slowly inside Microsoft. Microsoft began quietly testing a Windows Genuine Advantage program in 2004 with an optional check that offered no benefits for taking part, nor penalties for machines that didn't pass. The company quickly expanded the program, adding some incentives for those machines that were verified. The company later made the checks mandatory to download most Windows updates and add-ons... TechRepublic >>> more

Broadband ratings lifted  

AUSTRALIA'S peak telecommunications industry group will today hear that our broadband performance is far better than widely perceived, in a report that slams the OECD's yearly worldwide broadband rankings.

The report by telecommunications analyst Market Clarity re-ranks Australia from 17 to as high as sixth in the world for broadband performance and accuses the OECD of using woefully inadequate statistical methods to build its rankings.

The report will be presented to the Australian Telecommunications Users Group today.

Market Clarity chief executive Shara Evans said the OECD should use far more rigorous statistical methods to build the rankings, which have become the gospel for countries around the world for creating laws and policy settings to improve high-speed internet services.

"They really fell down on the job in not reporting their methodology," Ms Evans said.

"They've certainly fallen down on the job by not describing the limitations of the data."

The OECD statistics have provided Telstra and the federal Opposition with a statistical battering ram to bludgeon the competition regulator and federal Government telecommunications policy settings..

The report could swiftly turn the whole debate around in Communications Minister Helen Coonan's favour. The Australian >>> more

Malware piggybacks on Windows updates  

Around 100,000 users have been infected with malware that has piggybacked on Windows updates, according to a report from security research firm Symantec.

A Trojan, which began circulating in March via spammed e-mail, used an "interesting" technique to download malicious files, said the report.

Its method of attack was by way of a Windows component, also known as Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS), to download the files.

The trouble, however, is Windows updates rely on BITS as its main service for downloading patches and keeping the operating system running smoothly. And because the BITS service is part of Windows OS, it's trusted and can bypass the local firewall as it downloads files.

Javier Santoyo, manager at Symantec's Security Response Center, used this analogy to describe the piggyback technique: "imagine someone opening a door with a legitimate access badge and an attacker tailgating them to enter the building".

Microsoft said that users would have already had to have been duped, via social engineering, into allowing the TrojanDownloader:Win32/Jowspry to infect their system. Once infected, the Trojan utilises BITS to download additional malware.

The pattern continues unless an infected user scans their system and removes all variants of the Trojan, according to the software giant. ZDNet Australia

Quotes of the Day  

It is difficult to produce a television documentary that is both incisive and probing when every twelve minutes one is interrupted by twelve dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper. Rod Serling (1924 - 1975)

Vote early and vote often. Al Capone (1899 - 1947)

If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things. Rene Descartes (1596 - 1650)

One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain't nothin' can beat teamwork. Edward Abbey (1927 - 1989)

Brought to you by The Quotations Page

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