^The Engine^™

What's New?

New Features, Enhancements and News:

Unlike other online shopping systems, the VOE is constantly being improved and updated. Since WORLDWIDE MULTIMEDIA maintains the central ordering servers which all merchants take advantage of, when a new version of the VOE is released, it is instantly available to be exploited. New features are regularly announced, along with information on how to incorporate the new abilities into your web site. Merchants will generally receive private e-mail with details, but this page also serves as another source of late-breaking information. Here we will discuss information on VOE features as well as issues involving online commerce and how the VOE addresses these issues.

New VOE Features Announced!

The latest release of the Virtual Order Engine compiles a special "Sales Report" database. This information can be used by the merchant for their own in-house tracking or analysis. Our system also compiles a weekly or monthly report based on the data and e-mails it to each merchant. In the report, you'll receive an overview of sales activity on your site, along with statistics and averages including things like: average number of orders per day, average sales per day, and totals on shipping, product charges and other items .

Browser Issues - WebTV

We've noticed that one particular browser, the "WebTV" system, incorrectly identifies itself to the world as being Microsoft Internet Explorer-compatible. Unfortunately, the WebTV system does NOT support SSL (encrypted) transactions, and previously this made it difficult for people to place online secure orders using WebTV (our system would recognize the browser as being SSL compatible when it wasn't). This has since been corrected, and WebTV users are now able to order online. Unfortunately, the companies behind WebTV (which I believe includes Phillips/Magnavox and Microsoft) are pushing their own proprietary "merchant solution" and it looks like they are not willing to make their browser compatible with the universal encryption standard. We will be watching the progress of WebTV carefully, and will investigate the possibility of participating in any 'merchant solution' WebTV may propose (provided we can work one deal with the company and not force all merchants to have to pay extra). We will also lobby against any company which tries to force a proprietary payment system which requires additional money from merchants to participate - we feel the encryption standards on the net should be non-proprietary and will lobby on behalf of all VOE merchants. In any case, this issue is presently inconsequential because WebTV users represent less than 0.5 percent of those online. However WebTV users can order online using the VOE - they just cannot engage in secured transactions because their system doesn't support it.