The "dirtly little secret" is that all of their sales are currently
handled via WebObjects, with just an NT SQL server on the back end.
Microsoft isn't too happy about this (there is no mention of WebObjects
anywhere), so they've been working like crazy to replicate that
functionality on BackOffice. No luck, so far...
I've often wondered what would happen if all the people who spend their
time fighting to make things work under Microsoft (or even Apple) tools
were equipped with NeXT-level object frameworks. Thanks to Rhapsody and
YellowBox/NT, we may finally find out...
-- Ernie P.
Begin forwarded message:
From: Dan Kohn <<dan@teledesic.com>
To: "'DW_Online_Order@dell.com'" <<DW_Online_Order@dell.com>
Cc: "'Fork'" <<FoRK@pest.w3.org>
Subject: RE: Your Dellware Online Order
Date: Tue, 22 Jul 1997 08:32:08 -0700
X-Mailer: Microsoft Exchange Server Internet Mail Connector Version 4.0.995.52
This order is NOT correct. On the final page, the shipping zip code
should have been 29482, not 98033. 98033 is the billing zip code. I
entered this correctly but you have an error in your checkout scripts
which appear appears to replace the shipping zip code with billing zip
code.
Further, your DellWare catalog has a ways to go in ease of use of
on-line shopping. It does not seem unreasonable that if I am going to
be spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on your online catalog,
that you could offer more than a one-line description of the product. I
understand that you are one of the pioneers of online commerce and have
been working on improving the shopping experience when buying a full
bundled computer. But when buying a monitor or keyboard, it would be
nice to get more than just a list of the 70 items you have available
without any descriptive information to make an informed purchase. Since
your telephone salespeople have been trained to provide more helpful
purchasing suggestions, I assume you have the information necessary to
allow an informed online purchase, and I hope you will be adding this
sort of functionality soon.
In the meantime, please call me at 425-602-6222 to confirm that you have
the correct shipping information on this order.
- dan