NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #27/NN_1992_27.iso/spool/comp/sys/next/misc/22019

Text File | 1992-11-15 | 4.3 KB | 87 lines

Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.misc
Path: sparky!uunet!beauty!irving
From: [e-mail] (Irving_Wolfe)
Subject: Re: NeXT/Addison-Wesley Documentation Set Update
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Organization: Happy Man Corp., Vashon Island, WA 98070-7399
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1992 21:09:12 GMT
Lines: 75

In <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Garance A. Drosehn) writes:

>[e-mail] (Irving_Wolfe) writes:
>> As previously announced in one of the NeXT Usenet newsgroups, we
>> are accepting orders for the Addison-Wesley NeXT documentation set
>> at a Usenet group purchase discount price.

>  [details of a very attractive offer skipped over, an offer I'll
>   probably try to get in on myself...]

>I would personally suggest that no one ever send credit card information via
>email.  It's not that I don't trust Irving or his company, but I *strongly*
>suggest that no one should assume that your email message will not be seen
>on the way to Irving.

Different people are differently connected.  Perhaps most of us are
either on the Internet (lucky souls!) or, like my site, connected
by uucp through reasonably trustworthy direct-Internet sites.
(Ours are uunet and nwnexus; neither is frequented by college
students or other likely experimenters and, most important, neither
supports shell accounts for the public.)  I would suggest that for
people at sites similarly well-connected, the risk is minimal.  The
CIA (the U.S.'s KGB) probably taps and analyzes all Internet
traffic, but if those guys wanted your credit card number, they
know how to get it without tapping anything.  Unless your e-mail is
passing through public-access uucp systems, the risk is extremely
small and U.S. persons are protected by our credit-card laws, which
limit your liability for unauthorized misuse by others to a
minimal amount (assuming you promptly notice and report the
erroneous charges).

>Other peoples opinions on this may differ, I'm just suggesting that people
>think about it.

Thinking about it and discussing it are fine.  Running away in fear
is fine, too, after having thought about it and after having
discussed it.  But running away in fear without the analysis is
silly.  E-mail, as compared with a telephone call, cuts expenses at
both ends, allows use at any hour, provides a "written" record that
isn't subject to transcription error, allows handling when
convenient, and, most important in this case, since our primary
business is _not_ selling books (it's a sideline), you can think
about what you're sending and we can think about what we're
receiving instead of having one or both of us goof up and omit
important information.

As Garance said of his, this is just _my_ opinion.  But there is
another side to this issue.

There is a major price paid for lack of trust.  One man who ordered
the set from us responded to our original posting, when we thought
the price would be $204 rather than the actual $224.06.  He was so
adamant in his e-mail about the price being $204 or less that I was
afraid of a legal battle and held up his order pending confimation,
unlike the other early responders' orders, where I assumed that an
increase in the publisher's prices would be acceptable.  Thus, his
reward for his caution will be receiving his books a week later.
The big risk in this deal is me and my company, and we are not a
risk at all.  Opinionated, definitely, obnoxious at times, sure,
but we are nothing if not bright, honest, and fair.  E-mail is a
genuinely trivial risk and a great convenience, though surely, like
crossing the street, it is a risk.  One major reason for the
existence of the Internet is the improvement in accuracy and the
savings of time that it brings in cases like this.  If not for this
use and others like it -- if the Internet were only good for
passing around alt.binaries.pictures -- shouldn't it really be shut
down?

Regards,
 - Opinionated Irv
--
 [e-mail]      Happy Man Corp.  206/463-9399 x101
 4410 SW Pt. Robinson Rd., Vashon Island, WA  98070-7399   fax x108
 We publish SOLID VALUE for the intelligent investor.   NextMail OK
Info free; sample $20.  Send POSTAL addrs: [e-mail]