The Microsoft Windows Media Encoder wmex.dll ActiveX control is vulnerable to a buffer overflowthat could result in remote code execution.
Vodafone - do you want my business?
Customer retention is something every business needs to be good at. If your customer don't come back then you'll very quickly find yourself going out of business.
Visit your local coffee shop these days and you're bound to get a loyalty card. Buy 10 coffee's and get 1 free. Visit Subway and you'll get credit that goes towards buying a sandwich. Fly with an Airline and you'll get frequent flyer points. Buy your groceries at New World or buy your petrol at Shell and you'll get Fly Buys points. I don't need to list any more - I'm sure you get my drift.
Most of these companies all exist in competive marketplaces where customers have many choices when it comes to spending their hear earned money. These companies realise that keeping their customers happy is not just something you pay sparse attention to, it's part of your core business.
Now lets look at the mobile market in NZ. Stastistics tell is that 100% of NZers own a mobile phone so I'll ask a question that everybody should be able to answer. Exactly what are Vodafone or Telecom doing for you to keep you as a happy loyal customer? Do you feel that your mobile carrier really wants your business or are you simply treated as a number? Do you think they really care if you moved away to another carrier?
This poses the question - do these companies care about customer loyalty? Both feature business models based around locking you into long into term contracts and giving you small discounts off overpriced handsets. Imagine if you wanted to buy petrol but could only do this if you entered into a 24 month exclusive contract with the fuel outlet of your choice, a contract that you couldn't break without paying a penalty. In return they would sell you a 1.5l bottle of Coke dicscounted to $3.00 - more than you would pay for this product if you shopped at a supermarket. Would you feel like you were a happy, content loyal customer or would you feel like you were just a number?
New Zealand now has a greater choice when it comes to mobile with TelstraClear launching a virtual mobile network using Telecom's CDMA network and Black+White are about to launch a similair virtual network using Vodafone's network. B+W won't be offering term contracts and instead believe they can compete by offering a package that makes their customers feel like they are receiving value for money which in turn will drive customer loyalty.
So I'll now ask the question - having been a Bellsouth & now Vodafone customer for 13 years do you really value my business? What have you done recently that should make me feel happy about being a customer of yours? How have you rewarded me for my loyalty over the years? You give me significantly less airtime for my $ spend than virtually any other Vodafone Group network. You've put up roaming rates so I now have to pay more to make calls when I visit Australia 3-4 times per year and also charge all incoming roam forward calls by the minute rather than per second. This annoyed me greatly. What else have you done? Nothing. What would I like you to do? Offer me a plan that feels like I'm receiving value for money. Don't lock me into a term contract. Don't make me laugh me by offering me $50 off a $1000 handset that's selling for $200 more than it's true market value. Quite simply don't insult me. I'm happy to pay good money each month for a plan that meets my needs.
Do you really value my business or not? If you do what are you going to do for me?
Update on a Crowd Sourcing experiment
During the early hours of Saturday morning I initiated an experiment in Crowd Sourcing at crowdSpring.com. Read my previous blog entry for the details.I am pleased to report that in less than five days I have received 96 entries. I'm stagge... (more in the full post)
Microsoft Office OneNote File Uniform Resource Locator Remote Code Execution
Microsoft Office is vulnerable to remote code execution through specially-crafted OneNote URLs.
Review: Norton Internet Security 2009 - not ready - Geek.com
Vietnam faces serious shortage of internet security experts - VietNamNet Bridge
Tip of the day - buy some Telecom NZ shares
Currently at $2.70 these are a bargain!
Once all the idiots have sold out the better things will be for Telecom. Telecom is not the company it was 4 years ago. It is a lean mean telco run by a very smart CEO that will continute to dominate the NZ landscape for many many many years to come.
Lets hope the investors bailing out at present are the idiots who only invested in the company for their dividend - greedy people who were only ever in it for a quick return. Those same people who pushed for Telecom to make big profits and caused the problems that are now the stumbling block the company is having to deal with.
Those buying shares now are the smart ones who realise that a bargain they are getting...
Transfields future as Telecom SP on knife-edge
I have blogged about this before (it seems like I'm always saying that - just prophetic I guess), but it seems that poor old Transfield are loosing money on their Telecom contracts. See TVNZ news item.
To be honest I'm not surprised, they have been nailed down so much, there can't be any margin in this work, in fact they have admitted they are loosing money on it. A few years ago, when the Telecom patches were being awarded, they must have put in bids so close to their break-even point that there was no room for any variation, and now they're in the smelly brown stuff.
So what are Telecom going to do about it? Two choices; negotiate with Transfield to try and keep them on, and let them actually do business so they can make some money and survive - or give it all to Downers.
Personally, I hope that Transfield stick around and are able to continue with the Telecom patches they have - I think it would be so detrimental to the NZ telecommunications industry if it was just Downers (Don't forget, they have Telecom patches, the TelstraClear SP contract, and the Vodafone maintenance contract - hell, there's not much else out there!!?!)
I can't believe I'm defending Transfield - they are probably the lowest paying SP in the industry. Maybe if they sort things out with Telecom they will address this - yeah right!
Happy days!!
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