AMD to leave x86 behind?

On Tue, 03 Jan 2006 13:30:07 GMT, Morten Reistad wrote:

In article ,
George Macdonald wrote:
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 09:06:46 +0100, Jan Vorbrüggen
wrote:

What the hell is this? Can't you offer the common courtesy of showing the
person your quoting? PUHLEEZE change your newsreader settings.


Not hereabouts. For instance, if I allow one of the companies who get my
money regularly - even once annually - to do a direct debit, within six weeks
of the transaction all I need to do is go to my bank and ask it to cancel the
transaction, and I have my money back. Of course the other party will be
pretty ****ed-off with that - such cancelment costs them around 15 Euros,
IIRC - and the business relationship will likely suffer pretty badly - but
hey, that's a measure of last resort that you'd untertake only if the rela-
tionship already is down the tubes.

I'm sorry but you seem not to understand the nature of fraudulent
transactions - recipients tend not to hang around long enough for a return
of funds. I'm sorry but I find your bank's "policy" here beyond
credibility. How *do* they stop fraudulent transaction cancellations?:-)

To be able to do direct debits you have to be a solid corporation showing
a pretty stellar credit history for at least three years, or put up
guarantees matching the debits you take in.

In more than 25 years I haven't needed to do that once...but it's good to
know one can do that.

Nice that you have that option but it is not universal and not even common
in other countries.

I don't suppose you understand the Giro system. See other posting.

Yes I do understand it - we don't have it here.

This is probably a bad newsgroup for it, but I have no better suggestion.

With that in mind I have to ask why credit cards never took off in Europe
as well as in the U.S.?

Because the alternatives that were available were considered "better" in some
sense of the world. There was a time when one needed a credit card mainly for
trips outside Europe (in particular, to the US) and as a deposit for car
rental.

That's rubbish. I have lived in Europe and the lack/difficulty of credit
cards was a PITA and no the alternatives have not been around for that
long... and I still don't like the security... your claims notwithstanding.
As for "better" that can only be, IME, from the perspective of the banks.

I know that some countries had govt. regulations on personal debt at one
time or another but is that not a thing of the past now?

Certainly never a consideration in Germany.

If think if you look back far enough........

German restrictions on personal credit were all lifted in 1958.

Thank you.

... or was it because merchants did not want to pay the banks their
%age?

That for sure.

Here in the U.S., merchants who did not accept credit card have gone out of
business.shrug

It's a different system. Debit cards rule the shopping malls here; only
a tiny fraction is done by credit card. ISTR 70-10-20 in debit-credit-cash
ratio.

Yes and both systems seem to work. There are many in the U.S. like me who
refuse to use direct debit because of the risks.

Is it possibly more difficult to get a credit card in Europe?

Probably easier, I'd say.

Where is it easier and easier than where? I know it's *not* easier than
the U.S. in France and the U.K. I have recent examples as proof.

If you pass a credit check they more or less throw them after you.

If you don't then you are out of luck. Just as in the US you would need
some history to pass a credit check. A debit card is a lot easier to obtain
if you are a visitor, immigrant, or have a bad credit history.

Of course that raises the question of what country boundaries are imposed
for the credit check - if the EU makes that intra-Europe then that would be
umm, nice. Why they cannot extend it to international is a PITA.

--
Rgds, George Macdonald

Giro fees are on the order of cents per payment. I pay NOK 2 for a regular
giro, that is around 26 cents US.

Debit cards ride on top of this system. A GSM-based debit terminal costs
NOK 2200; (USD 280) and it is yours to keep. The bank subscription for the
account you validate to is around NOK 180/month, USD 21. The fee per
transction varies a little, but you can get as low as NOK 6 per transaction,
GSM costs included. That is around USD 0.85.

These are very high transaction costs!

I routinely buy lunch at McDonald's or BurgerVille with a credit card.
That's 0.87 cents for the hamburger (more at McDonald's). I doubt
that BurgerVille pays 0.85 cents in transaction charges.

I would hope that European debit card transaction costs are lower in
general - probably are for big companies, eh?

---

In the US it once was typical to see "No credit card transactions
below 10$". Now it is much less common.

Andy Glew wrote:

Giro fees are on the order of cents per payment. I pay NOK 2 for a regular
giro, that is around 26 cents US.

Debit cards ride on top of this system. A GSM-based debit terminal costs
NOK 2200; (USD 280) and it is yours to keep. The bank subscription for the
account you validate to is around NOK 180/month, USD 21. The fee per
transction varies a little, but you can get as low as NOK 6 per transaction,
GSM costs included. That is around USD 0.85.


These are very high transaction costs!

It is perfectly possible to get down to the 10 cents (NOK 0.65) range
(or lower) if you handle more than 100 K transactions/year.

With a GSM terminal you'll normally have to pay the cell phone
connection charge of about 5-6 cents, but here you'll also be able to
get further down with a high-volume setup.

Using GPRS is probably better, that removes the setup fee.

I routinely buy lunch at McDonald's or BurgerVille with a credit card.
That's 0.87 cents for the hamburger (more at McDonald's). I doubt
that BurgerVille pays 0.85 cents in transaction charges.

I would hope that European debit card transaction costs are lower in
general - probably are for big companies, eh?

Indeed they are.

---

In the US it once was typical to see "No credit card transactions
below 10$". Now it is much less common.


Right, I remember those from 91/92 when I lived there.

Terje

PS. Happy New Year everyone!

--
-
"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"

In article ,
Andy Glew wrote:
Giro fees are on the order of cents per payment. I pay NOK 2 for a regular
giro, that is around 26 cents US.

Debit cards ride on top of this system. A GSM-based debit terminal costs
NOK 2200; (USD 280) and it is yours to keep. The bank subscription for the
account you validate to is around NOK 180/month, USD 21. The fee per
transction varies a little, but you can get as low as NOK 6 per transaction,
GSM costs included. That is around USD 0.85.

These are very high transaction costs!

Well, they are list prices posted for small companies. J.Q. Consultant
and his dog can get these rates.

I routinely buy lunch at McDonald's or BurgerVille with a credit card.
That's 0.87 cents for the hamburger (more at McDonald's). I doubt
that BurgerVille pays 0.85 cents in transaction charges.

I would hope that European debit card transaction costs are lower in
general - probably are for big companies, eh?

If you run your own network, terminals and deliver transactions all in
one place you will get a large break on prices. ISTR the floor
of debit card pricing is around NOK 1.20 ( around 17 cents US).
This is the kind of rates large corporations with lots and lots
of small transactions, and their own network and terminals will pay.

Your transaction count would have to be in the hundreds of thousands
per month though. A large power and cable TV utility pays around
1.60 (22 c US) for transactions.

-- mrr

If you run your own network, terminals and deliver transactions all in
one place you will get a large break on prices. ISTR the floor
of debit card pricing is around NOK 1.20 ( around 17 cents US).
This is the kind of rates large corporations with lots and lots
of small transactions, and their own network and terminals will pay.

Your transaction count would have to be in the hundreds of thousands
per month though. A large power and cable TV utility pays around
1.60 (22 c US) for transactions.

About 10 years ago I was at a university computer user group talk from a guy who said
"First I [he] did the check verification system - 0.50$US/transaction."
"Then I [he] did the VISA phone verification system - 0.05$US/transaction."
"Next I [he] want to get transaction costs down to 0.005$US/transaction,
and then 0.0005$US/transaction."

Unfortunately, I cannot remember the guy's name. Can anyone guess who it was?
I think he was talking about VeriFone and VeriCheck.

He made this sort of financial stuff sound really interesting.