Friday, October 26, 2007

FastCommerce on E-Commerce Times

By Andrew K. Burger
E-Commerce Times
10/23/07 4:00 AM PT

"Businesspeople have precious little time to learn complex systems and then to use them so it needs to be easy and accessible. Whenever possible I try to use the following guide when designing the systems: You shouldn't need to read a manual to know how to use it -- it should be self-evident," said Daniel Vidoni, e-commerce software consultant and proprietor of Vidoniweb.com and Storefinder.com.


Tealeaf provides visibility, insight, and answers for companies doing business online, letting you see why your customers succeed or fail in their transactions. We are committed to helping companies make sure that every customer can complete every transaction, every time. Learn how.

There's a wealth of opportunities available for aspiring and small to medium-sized business (SMB) e-tailers looking for shopping cart technology, as Part 1 of this series points out.

While this makes it easier than ever to find this important piece of the e-tailing puzzle, it also means startup and SMB e-tailers face greater challenges when it comes to choosing shopping cart software and putting it to good use.

Ongoing rapid growth in e-commerce, the emergence of standardized Web 2.0 technology and open source software packages, shopping cart and e-tail e-commerce tools have become cheaper, more powerful, standardized and chock-full of all kinds of interactive, multichannel and multimedia features. However, perceptions of just how easy they are to use -- and how easy and cheap it is to get online and start an e-tail business -- often outrun the reality.

"There is such an enormous amount to consider when creating these systems that in my view it should be left to professionals. If not, a merchant can become disillusioned with Internet technology and determine -- incorrectly -- that it doesn't work and that it's all hype," Daniel Vidoni, e-commerce software consultant and proprietor of Australia's Vidoni.com and Storefinder.com, told the E-Commerce Times.


The Front End
There are essentially two sides to shopping cart sites, Vidoni continued: "The merchant's administration area (the back end), which allows them to manage the products, pricing and freight and things like that; and the Web site front end where visitors can see and read about the products, place orders and make payments."

Getting the front-end user interfaces right is one key to creating a satisfying customer experience. They need to be intuitive and facilitate a smooth workflow, Vidoni elaborated.

"From a sales perspective, it is vitally important that we help make the purchase experience a good one -- and good means easy, pleasant and enjoyable -- the opposite of frustrating. Remember the phrase 'it's been a pleasure doing business with you?' That should be your target," he said.

As important as it is, the shopping cart is just a part of an e-tail site; it needs to be part of a fully integrated e-tail platform, pointed out Charles Han, CEO of FastCommerce.com.

"Most shopping carts today have the basic function of managing products, calculating shipping and tax, and checking out with credit cards. Most U.S.-based shopping carts also support alternative payment methods such as Paypal and Google Checkout. That's about what you will get from 99 percent of the shopping carts in the marketplace," Han told the E-Commerce Times.

As competitive as the e-tail and software markets are and with so many good SMB shopping cart platforms on offer at small business prices, the shopping cart in and of itself doesn't really add any significant value to an e-tailer's business, he said.

"Like in a brick and mortar store, you are not going be successful if all you have is steel shopping carts and some check out registers. You are expected to have a fully integrated retail system to manage your merchandising assortment, inventory, promotion, marketing, customers, product returns and financials. Nobody expects to see a shopping cart and POS (point of sale) not being of a complete retail system," Han added.

The Back End
Equally important to e-tailing success as getting a shopping cart site's front-end user interface and navigation features right, the back end also needs to come together.

"The back end of the Web site is much more important and complex than many people realize," Vidoni commented. "One would think that it is where products are managed and photographs of items uploaded. However, there is a great deal more that the administration area can and does do."

Typically, sophisticated databases are used. "A lot of time is spent on getting the data architecture right. This flows from the needs of the business. Every business is different, therefore every database structure is different," Vidoni continued.

Like the shopping cart's front end, the back end administration area should be well-designed and easy to use.

"Businesspeople have precious little time to learn complex systems and then to use them so it needs to be easy and accessible," he said. "Whenever possible I try to use the following guide when designing the systems: You shouldn't need to read a manual to know how to use it -- it should be self-evident."

Ideally, databases should be able to be exported and connected to and from accounting software packages, which allows data such as stock levels and orders and sales information to be exported into accounting software packages for processing and reconciliation, something that is frequently overlooked, Vidoni noted.

"As with many things, you get what you pay for; there are no shortcuts to quality design and implementation and the extra time and effort you invest is returned many fold over the years during which your Web site operates profitably," he commented.

Open Source Options
As in a growing number of software market segments, open source software solutions are making their market in e-tail and shopping cart software.

"There are many decent -- and free -- e-commerce solutions, such as osCommerce, on the market. These products allow very rapid development and are a great way for beginners to get into Web development. When these products are used by professional developers, the results can be sensational," Vidoni related.

Professional, well-designed templates can be incorporated within a solid e-tail system's architecture and provide very cost-effective, good quality solutions, he continued. Beautifully designed professional template's can mesh together with the solid architecture of these well-designed products to yield very cost-effective quality solutions. In addition, Vidoni noted, "Because the software is in the public domain it is constantly under peer review and if necessary can be modified by the Web developer to produce more customized solutions.

"I have been involved in the development of similar shareware products in the past which were developed by the global programming community and the results were incredible. Everybody contributes small fragments and everyone ends up benefiting. The open architecture is beautiful to work with and there are so many forums where questions can be asked and answered sometimes within minutes that it's just incredible."

Making the Investment
For e-tail startups and SMBs to compete successfully in the increasingly competitive, fast-moving e-tail market means having the willingness and means to invest the necessary capital -- and the capital required isn't insignificant or shrinking.

"For small businesses that are just launching an online store or expect online sales to be under (US)$2 million, we usually recommend a shared revenue platform like Yahoo Merchant Solutions," Sandra Fathi, president of Affect Strategies, told the E-Commerce Times. "There are quite a few companies that will provide their hosting services and e-commerce platforms for between 0.5 and 1.5 percent of sales revenue."

Going with an established third-party e-commerce platform hosting provider offers startups and SMBs -- particularly those with limited technology expertise -- a number of advantages.

"This approach also provides merchants with peace of mind that tech support and maintenance of the platform are included in their agreement. Often, these platforms are well established and fully integrated with complementary services that the business may want to leverage as well," Fathi explained.

Aspiring e-tailers can expect to invest $50,000 and upwards for a custom developed e-commerce platform while making use of an off-the-shelf offering may run as little as a few hundred to a few thousand dollars a year, according to Fathi.

"Many small businesses just don't have the cash to layout upfront. Having a fixed percentage on top of their cost of goods sold allows them to have better cash flow and less volatility in operating costs if something should go wrong with a proprietary platform," she noted.

BabyRide.com, one of Affect's SMB e-tail clients, generates annual sales of more than $3 million yet still chooses to stay on the Yahoo Merchant Solutions platform, Fathi related.

"Although they are paying about 0.75 percent of each sale (or $22,500 annually), BabyRide.com has been able to avoid hiring a full time Web developer or technology expert to maintain and update the site. Having an e-commerce platform that is maintained, supported and operating 365 days a year is worth much more to the company," she said.

Shopping Cart Options for SMBs, Part 1

Next Article in E-Commerce: New 3-D Tech Makes Online Shopping More Like Being There

Back to Online Version E-Mail Article Digg It Reprints More by Andrew K. Burger Talkback

Related Stories

New 3-D Tech Makes Online Shopping More Like Being There (22-Oct-07)
The Scramble for Sticky Online Banking Customers (28-Sep-07)
Online Billing, Part 2: Problems and Possibilities (18-Sep-07)
Related Resources

Successful Offshore Outsourcing for Small to Mid-size Businesses
Sales Outsourcing, Lead Generation, and Sales Consulting
Sourcing Strategies for your HR-IT - A Webinar by Forrester
State of IT Outsourcing
Don't miss a story -- sign up for our FREE e-mail newsletters and view the latest headlines at a glance.
Tech News Flash [ View Sample ]
E-Commerce Minute [ View Sample ]
ECT News Network Weekly Newsletter [ View Sample ]

More Stories by Andrew K. Burger

Marketing Automation Solutions for Startups, Part 2 (26-Oct-07)
Marketing Automation Solutions for Startups, Part 1 (25-Oct-07)
Shopping Cart Options for SMBs, Part 1 (22-Oct-07)
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E-Commerce Times
Creating Synergy With Online and Offline Marketing
Financing Your Startup: Some Essential Tips
Motorola Profits Slide, Investors Cheer Nonetheless
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The E-Learning Adventure
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Virtualization: Do Your Homework
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Apple's Leopard Is Spot-On
Fake Steve Jobs' Book Has Kernels of Real Insight
Apple COO: Users Unlock 1 in 6 iPhones Sold
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A powerful server from HP
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Section Snapshot
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Strong Camera, LCD Sales Boost Sony to Record Q2
Amazon Shares Slide Despite Stellar Q3
MySpace Pens Formal Agreement for Casual Games
Communications
Feeding the Cash Cow: Beefing Up Mobile Business Services
IBM Developing Wicked-Fast Wireless Data Transfer Chip
AT&T Teams With Napster on 2-Buck Song Downloads
Critical Issues
Citrix Unwraps New Virtualization Strategy
Alliances and Intrigue in the Virtualization World
Poison Apple? Greenpeace Slams Apple for 'Toxic' iPhone

E-Commerce
Google Draws Nielsen Into Its Advertising Web
Music Piracy Police Cut Off Feeding at Oink's Trough
America the Haunted?
E-Marketing
Report: Cheery Outlook for Holiday E-Shopping Season
MySpace TV to Air Bite-Sized Serial Drama
EU Postpones Google-DoubleClick Day of Reckoning
ECT News Exclusives
Digital River's Jim Wehmann: Building a Better E-Commerce Site
GNU GPL Creator Richard Stallman on the Meaning of 'Free'
BlueRoads CEO Shinya Akamine: Out With PRM, In With POM

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IBM Offers New Ways to Store Ginormous Amounts of Data
A Plethora of One-Stop Shops for Small Biz Tech
Microsoft Eyes Enterprise With New Mobile Server
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Leopard vs. Vista, Brazil vs. Cisco, True Security Horror Story, Product of the Week
The Difference Between Vista and Leopard: Fear
Law
AT&T Puts Vonage Back on Litigation Merry-Go-Round
Microsoft Ends Resistance to EU Antitrust Ruling
Four States Reverse Stance on Microsoft Oversight

Must Read
GPL v3: Was It Worth the Effort?
RIAA's Next Target: Usenet
VPNs and Small Business, Part 1: The SMB Case
SMB
Apple and SMBs, Part 2: The Case for the Xserve
Shopping Cart Options for SMBs, Part 2
Apple and SMBs, Part 1: The Case for the All-Mac Shop
Security
Overzealous Ticket Bots Choke Rockies' Online Sales
Call Center Agent Charged With Stealing Customer IDs
Virtual Browsers: Disposable Security

Spotlight Features
The Bandwidth Shortage That Stole Christmas
RFID: Thinking Outside the Box, Part 2
Free Software for the SMB
Trends
MySpace: A Place for Developers
Murdoch 'Never Imagined' Scale of MySpace Success
Virtual Meetings: Bridging the Distance Gap
Wall Street
Lexmark Smudges Q4 Expectations
Mac Sales Power Apple to Record Quarter
AT&T Rides BellSouth Buy, iPhone to $3.1B Profit


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| October 26, 2007 09:55:40 AME-Commerce Times > E-Commerce | Read Next Article in E-Commerce
Please note that this material is copyright protected. It is illegal to display or reproduce this article without permission for any commercial purpose, including use as marketing or public relations literature. To obtain reprints of this article for authorized use, please call a sales representative at (818) 461-9700 or visit http://www.ectnews.com/about/reprints/.
Shopping Cart Options for SMBs, Part 2
Back to Online Version
E-Mail Article
Digg It
Reprints
By Andrew K. Burger
E-Commerce Times
10/23/07 4:00 AM PT

"Businesspeople have precious little time to learn complex systems and then to use them so it needs to be easy and accessible. Whenever possible I try to use the following guide when designing the systems: You shouldn't need to read a manual to know how to use it -- it should be self-evident," said Daniel Vidoni, e-commerce software consultant and proprietor of Vidoniweb.com and Storefinder.com.


Tealeaf provides visibility, insight, and answers for companies doing business online, letting you see why your customers succeed or fail in their transactions. We are committed to helping companies make sure that every customer can complete every transaction, every time. Learn how.

There's a wealth of opportunities available for aspiring and small to medium-sized business (SMB) e-tailers looking for shopping cart technology, as Part 1 of this series points out.

While this makes it easier than ever to find this important piece of the e-tailing puzzle, it also means startup and SMB e-tailers face greater challenges when it comes to choosing shopping cart software and putting it to good use.

Ongoing rapid growth in e-commerce, the emergence of standardized Web 2.0 technology and open source software packages, shopping cart and e-tail e-commerce tools have become cheaper, more powerful, standardized and chock-full of all kinds of interactive, multichannel and multimedia features. However, perceptions of just how easy they are to use -- and how easy and cheap it is to get online and start an e-tail business -- often outrun the reality.

"There is such an enormous amount to consider when creating these systems that in my view it should be left to professionals. If not, a merchant can become disillusioned with Internet technology and determine -- incorrectly -- that it doesn't work and that it's all hype," Daniel Vidoni, e-commerce software consultant and proprietor of Australia's Vidoni.com and Storefinder.com, told the E-Commerce Times.


The Front End
There are essentially two sides to shopping cart sites, Vidoni continued: "The merchant's administration area (the back end), which allows them to manage the products, pricing and freight and things like that; and the Web site front end where visitors can see and read about the products, place orders and make payments."

Getting the front-end user interfaces right is one key to creating a satisfying customer experience. They need to be intuitive and facilitate a smooth workflow, Vidoni elaborated.

"From a sales perspective, it is vitally important that we help make the purchase experience a good one -- and good means easy, pleasant and enjoyable -- the opposite of frustrating. Remember the phrase 'it's been a pleasure doing business with you?' That should be your target," he said.

As important as it is, the shopping cart is just a part of an e-tail site; it needs to be part of a fully integrated e-tail platform, pointed out Charles Han, CEO of FastCommerce.com.

"Most shopping carts today have the basic function of managing products, calculating shipping and tax, and checking out with credit cards. Most U.S.-based shopping carts also support alternative payment methods such as Paypal and Google Checkout. That's about what you will get from 99 percent of the shopping carts in the marketplace," Han told the E-Commerce Times.

As competitive as the e-tail and software markets are and with so many good SMB shopping cart platforms on offer at small business prices, the shopping cart in and of itself doesn't really add any significant value to an e-tailer's business, he said.

"Like in a brick and mortar store, you are not going be successful if all you have is steel shopping carts and some check out registers. You are expected to have a fully integrated retail system to manage your merchandising assortment, inventory, promotion, marketing, customers, product returns and financials. Nobody expects to see a shopping cart and POS (point of sale) not being of a complete retail system," Han added.

The Back End
Equally important to e-tailing success as getting a shopping cart site's front-end user interface and navigation features right, the back end also needs to come together.

"The back end of the Web site is much more important and complex than many people realize," Vidoni commented. "One would think that it is where products are managed and photographs of items uploaded. However, there is a great deal more that the administration area can and does do."

Typically, sophisticated databases are used. "A lot of time is spent on getting the data architecture right. This flows from the needs of the business. Every business is different, therefore every database structure is different," Vidoni continued.

Like the shopping cart's front end, the back end administration area should be well-designed and easy to use.

"Businesspeople have precious little time to learn complex systems and then to use them so it needs to be easy and accessible," he said. "Whenever possible I try to use the following guide when designing the systems: You shouldn't need to read a manual to know how to use it -- it should be self-evident."

Ideally, databases should be able to be exported and connected to and from accounting software packages, which allows data such as stock levels and orders and sales information to be exported into accounting software packages for processing and reconciliation, something that is frequently overlooked, Vidoni noted.

"As with many things, you get what you pay for; there are no shortcuts to quality design and implementation and the extra time and effort you invest is returned many fold over the years during which your Web site operates profitably," he commented.

Open Source Options
As in a growing number of software market segments, open source software solutions are making their market in e-tail and shopping cart software.

"There are many decent -- and free -- e-commerce solutions, such as osCommerce, on the market. These products allow very rapid development and are a great way for beginners to get into Web development. When these products are used by professional developers, the results can be sensational," Vidoni related.

Professional, well-designed templates can be incorporated within a solid e-tail system's architecture and provide very cost-effective, good quality solutions, he continued. Beautifully designed professional template's can mesh together with the solid architecture of these well-designed products to yield very cost-effective quality solutions. In addition, Vidoni noted, "Because the software is in the public domain it is constantly under peer review and if necessary can be modified by the Web developer to produce more customized solutions.

"I have been involved in the development of similar shareware products in the past which were developed by the global programming community and the results were incredible. Everybody contributes small fragments and everyone ends up benefiting. The open architecture is beautiful to work with and there are so many forums where questions can be asked and answered sometimes within minutes that it's just incredible."

Making the Investment
For e-tail startups and SMBs to compete successfully in the increasingly competitive, fast-moving e-tail market means having the willingness and means to invest the necessary capital -- and the capital required isn't insignificant or shrinking.

"For small businesses that are just launching an online store or expect online sales to be under (US)$2 million, we usually recommend a shared revenue platform like Yahoo Merchant Solutions," Sandra Fathi, president of Affect Strategies, told the E-Commerce Times. "There are quite a few companies that will provide their hosting services and e-commerce platforms for between 0.5 and 1.5 percent of sales revenue."

Going with an established third-party e-commerce platform hosting provider offers startups and SMBs -- particularly those with limited technology expertise -- a number of advantages.

"This approach also provides merchants with peace of mind that tech support and maintenance of the platform are included in their agreement. Often, these platforms are well established and fully integrated with complementary services that the business may want to leverage as well," Fathi explained.

Aspiring e-tailers can expect to invest $50,000 and upwards for a custom developed e-commerce platform while making use of an off-the-shelf offering may run as little as a few hundred to a few thousand dollars a year, according to Fathi.

"Many small businesses just don't have the cash to layout upfront. Having a fixed percentage on top of their cost of goods sold allows them to have better cash flow and less volatility in operating costs if something should go wrong with a proprietary platform," she noted.

BabyRide.com, one of Affect's SMB e-tail clients, generates annual sales of more than $3 million yet still chooses to stay on the Yahoo Merchant Solutions platform, Fathi related.

"Although they are paying about 0.75 percent of each sale (or $22,500 annually), BabyRide.com has been able to avoid hiring a full time Web developer or technology expert to maintain and update the site. Having an e-commerce platform that is maintained, supported and operating 365 days a year is worth much more to the company," she said.

Shopping Cart Options for SMBs, Part 1

Next Article in E-Commerce: New 3-D Tech Makes Online Shopping More Like Being There

Back to Online Version E-Mail Article Digg It Reprints More by Andrew K. Burger Talkback

Related Stories

New 3-D Tech Makes Online Shopping More Like Being There (22-Oct-07)
The Scramble for Sticky Online Banking Customers (28-Sep-07)
Online Billing, Part 2: Problems and Possibilities (18-Sep-07)
Related Resources

Successful Offshore Outsourcing for Small to Mid-size Businesses
Sales Outsourcing, Lead Generation, and Sales Consulting
Sourcing Strategies for your HR-IT - A Webinar by Forrester
State of IT Outsourcing
Don't miss a story -- sign up for our FREE e-mail newsletters and view the latest headlines at a glance.
Tech News Flash [ View Sample ]
E-Commerce Minute [ View Sample ]
ECT News Network Weekly Newsletter [ View Sample ]

More Stories by Andrew K. Burger

Marketing Automation Solutions for Startups, Part 2 (26-Oct-07)
Marketing Automation Solutions for Startups, Part 1 (25-Oct-07)
Shopping Cart Options for SMBs, Part 1 (22-Oct-07)
[Search More...]
Letters: Click here to send a letter to the editor...
Talkback: Click here to add your comment about this story... Shortcuts
Sign Up for Business and Technology News Alerts
Most Popular | Spotlight Features | Podcasts
This Week on ECT News Network | Archives
Online Retail Transaction Performance Indices

Vendor White Papers
Find the resources you need to make informed purchasing decisions. [ Browse Directory ]
Most E-Mailed Articles
What Makes a Great SaaS Startup?
Using E-Mail Marketing to the Max
Free Software for the SMB
Rules for E-Commerce Startups to Live By, Part 2: What Not to Do
Mistakes Made on Kodak's Road to Innovation

E-Commerce Times
Creating Synergy With Online and Offline Marketing
Financing Your Startup: Some Essential Tips
Motorola Profits Slide, Investors Cheer Nonetheless
Microsoft Goes Cheek to Cheek With Facebook
Tech Heavies Form IT Security Phalanx With SAFECode Forum
Nintendo Half-Year Profits Double on Demand for Wii
Second Life Becomes First Job for Adventurous Few
BEA Hits on 17, Hopes for 21
RIM Puts Facebook in Motion
VPNs and Small Business, Part 2: Solutions and Alternatives
TechNewsWorld
When a Man Loves the Internet
Russian Firm Files Patent for Password Cracker
Web 2.0: Spreading Vital Info Amid Calif. Firestorms
The E-Learning Adventure
DNA Pioneer Watson Resigns Amid Cloud of Scandal
CRM Buyer
Marketing Automation Solutions for Startups, Part 2
Marketing Automation Solutions for Startups, Part 1
Revealing the Secrets to Effective Supply Chain Management
Getting Specific
Microsoft Slashes CRM Live Pricing for Partners
LinuxInsider
Virtualization: Do Your Homework
Mozilla Flies High on Google's Coattails
Enterprise Web App Platform Maker UnCurls Code
Parents Face Real Bills for Virtual Real Estate
Twine: Stringing Together the Semantic Web
MacNewsWorld
iPod, This Is Your Life
Gearing Up for the Leap to Leopard
Apple's Leopard Is Spot-On
Fake Steve Jobs' Book Has Kernels of Real Insight
Apple COO: Users Unlock 1 in 6 iPhones Sold
Sponsored Links
Marketing A.M.M.O. for 2008
Register for this Free Webinar: Alternative Marketing Methods and Options
Search For Your Domain Name
Thousands of businesses rely on BuyDomains.com to secure great premium domains.
White Paper
Boost online sales with VeriSign EV SSL, read our white paper.
Free White Paper
12 Site Search Tips for Holiday Success. Download Today.
White Paper
Learn how to accelerate sales conversion and reduce site abandonment.
A powerful server from HP
The HP ProLiant DL380 G5 Server with Systems Insight Manager (SIM).
Section Snapshot
Business
Strong Camera, LCD Sales Boost Sony to Record Q2
Amazon Shares Slide Despite Stellar Q3
MySpace Pens Formal Agreement for Casual Games
Communications
Feeding the Cash Cow: Beefing Up Mobile Business Services
IBM Developing Wicked-Fast Wireless Data Transfer Chip
AT&T Teams With Napster on 2-Buck Song Downloads
Critical Issues
Citrix Unwraps New Virtualization Strategy
Alliances and Intrigue in the Virtualization World
Poison Apple? Greenpeace Slams Apple for 'Toxic' iPhone

E-Commerce
Google Draws Nielsen Into Its Advertising Web
Music Piracy Police Cut Off Feeding at Oink's Trough
America the Haunted?
E-Marketing
Report: Cheery Outlook for Holiday E-Shopping Season
MySpace TV to Air Bite-Sized Serial Drama
EU Postpones Google-DoubleClick Day of Reckoning
ECT News Exclusives
Digital River's Jim Wehmann: Building a Better E-Commerce Site
GNU GPL Creator Richard Stallman on the Meaning of 'Free'
BlueRoads CEO Shinya Akamine: Out With PRM, In With POM

Enterprise IT
IBM Offers New Ways to Store Ginormous Amounts of Data
A Plethora of One-Stop Shops for Small Biz Tech
Microsoft Eyes Enterprise With New Mobile Server
Hot Topics
Comcast Confirms Fiddling With Net Traffic
Leopard vs. Vista, Brazil vs. Cisco, True Security Horror Story, Product of the Week
The Difference Between Vista and Leopard: Fear
Law
AT&T Puts Vonage Back on Litigation Merry-Go-Round
Microsoft Ends Resistance to EU Antitrust Ruling
Four States Reverse Stance on Microsoft Oversight

Must Read
GPL v3: Was It Worth the Effort?
RIAA's Next Target: Usenet
VPNs and Small Business, Part 1: The SMB Case
SMB
Apple and SMBs, Part 2: The Case for the Xserve
Shopping Cart Options for SMBs, Part 2
Apple and SMBs, Part 1: The Case for the All-Mac Shop
Security
Overzealous Ticket Bots Choke Rockies' Online Sales
Call Center Agent Charged With Stealing Customer IDs
Virtual Browsers: Disposable Security

Spotlight Features
The Bandwidth Shortage That Stole Christmas
RFID: Thinking Outside the Box, Part 2
Free Software for the SMB
Trends
MySpace: A Place for Developers
Murdoch 'Never Imagined' Scale of MySpace Success
Virtual Meetings: Bridging the Distance Gap
Wall Street
Lexmark Smudges Q4 Expectations
Mac Sales Power Apple to Record Quarter
AT&T Rides BellSouth Buy, iPhone to $3.1B Profit


ECT News Network Information
Publications
E-Commerce Times
TechNewsWorld
LinuxInsider
CRM Buyer
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