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نظم التجارة الالكترونية مجموعة من القضايا الرقابية و المحاسبية

laziali — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 09:59:18 +0000

تنشئ نظم التجارة الالكترونية مجموعة من القضايا الرقابية و المحاسبية التي يمكن تلخيصها في النقاط التالية:

1-التحقق من صحة العمليات: يتطلب التحقق من صحة العمليات في نظم التجارة الالكترونية التحقق من قضيتين هما، التأكد من التعرف على هوية الشريك على الطرف الثاني من قناة الاتصال، والتأكد من أن المعلومات المرسلة من قبله لم تبدل أثناء انتقالها من شبكته إلى شبكة المستقبل. بالنسبة للتأكد من هوية الشريك في العملية فإن القضية قضية ثقة، فعندما تكون العلاقة بين منظمة ومنظمة أخرى,، فإن المنظمة المشترية تكون تعرف المنظمة البائعة، ونادراً ما تقوم بالشراء من موردين غير معروفين بالنسبة لها، أما عند العلاقة بين المستهلك ومنظمة فهنا تبرز مشكلة التعرف والتأكد من هوية البائع، واحل هنا تم تطويره من قبل بعض الشركات عبر ما أصبح يعرف خدمات التأكد "Assurance service"
بالنسبة لقضية التأكد من أن المعلومات المرسلة لم تتغير من قبل طرف آخر أثناء نقل الرسالة بين الشريكين، فقد تم تطوير عدد من الآليات والأدوات مثل الإخفاء و التوقيع الالكتروني.

2-التفويض السليم للعمليات: أحد أهم مرتكزات نظم العمليات هو احتوائها على وسائل لحماية كل فريق من فسخ العملية من جانب واحد، ولهذا من الضروري التأكد أن العملية تم اعتمادها من قبل الفريق الآخر بشكل نظامي ونهائي . ويشكل التوقيع الالكتروني والمصادقة الالكترونية الوسائل لتحقيق مثل هذا الهدف.

3-المحافظة على سرية البيانات: إن الطريقة الأفضل لحماية البيانات هو استخدام أسلوب الإخفاء عند النقل.

4-الوصول غير المصرح به: وهو الوصول غير المصرح به إلى أي جزء من النظام من قبل عامل ضمن المنظمة أو من قبل طرف خارجي، والذين لا يملكون حق الدخول، للتأكد من أن التغييرات على سجلات الشركة المالية تمت عبر الشبكة من قبل أشخاص مخولين، على الشركة أن تستخدم قائمة ضبط الدخول (ACL) التي تحتوي على تحقق من شخصيات المستعملين، ومن الوسائل المفيد لتأمين هذا النوع من الحماية استخدام كلمات الدخول لتأمين بعض الحماية للبيانات وكذلك بناء الجدران النارية (FireWall) لمنع المتطفلين من الدخول إلى بعض محتويات الموقع الالكتروني للمنظمة على شبكة الانترنت والعبث بالبيانات المخزنة في نظام المعلومات الخاص بالشركة. لأن الجدران النارية هي عبارة عن تراكيب من المكونات المادية والبرمجيات تتولى الرقابة والسيطرة على تدفق البيانات من نظام المعلومات إلى الشبكة وبالعكس.يتم تطبيق و تنفيذ الجدار الناري على مستويين: في المستوى الأول تقوم الموجهات (Routers) بمجابهة حزم البيانات الواردة والصادرة من وإلى النظام وتقوم بفحص مصدر ومقصد هذه البيانات وتقرر فيما إذا كانت حزم البيانات هذه ستتم معالجتها من قبل النظام أم لا، فقط حزم البيانات التي تجتاز الفحص يتم توجيهها من قبل الموجه إلى تطبيق آخر (GateWay) حيث يتولى هذا البرنامج فحص محتوى حزمة البيانات المستلمة، ويقرر فيما إذا كان مسموحاً إن تستمر في السير، أو يتم إيقافها. مثل كل أنظمة قفل النظام بوجه المتطفلين، فإن الجدار الناري نظام قابل للاختراق، لذلك يجب على المنظمات تطوير وتطبيق نظم لاكتشاف المتطفلين على النظام.

5-ضياع البيانات: لذلك على المنظمة الاحتفاظ بنسخ احتياطية من كافة الملفات والتطبيقات الحيوية، وتصميم نظم الاستعادة الآلية للنظام (Recovery).

نقلاً عن كتاب تحليل وتصميم نظم المعلومات المحاسبية
د. عبد الرزاق محمد قاسم

Smart Cash Deals ... the site that pay you to shop.!

laziali — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:23:42 +0000

EARN FREE CASH ..

with SmartCashDeals.com

the site that pay you to shop.!

General
- How does Smart Cash Deals work?
  Simple! You sign up and complete any number of offers (we have hundreds, ranging from surveys to free trials and credit cards). Then, you "cash out" your balance and get paid by your preferred method.
- How can you afford this?
  The advertisers pay us to send them potential customers. This form of marketing is much more effective than standard advertising, because they pay only for fully acquired customers. There is no wasted advertising money as there is in traditional advertising, such as TV or radio spots.
- Why are you giving away money?
  It's simple: advertisers are in need of new customers, and they're willing to pay sites like Smart Cash Deals top dollar for each new "lead". We share much of the advertiser's "bounty" with you.
- What sets Smart Cash Deals apart from other sites?
  We think that requiring referrals can often lead to frustration. At Smart Cash Deals, you are in complete control of how much you earn, since you get paid for every offer you complete. We even give you a $7 signup bonus! You never have to refer a friend unless you want to.
- How do I close my account?
  Simply cease logging in and you will receive no emails except for our occasional newsletter. If you wish, you may unsubscribe from our occasional newsletter. If you absolutely must have your account disabled, you can open a support ticket to request it.
Offers
- What is an offer, and how do I complete one?
  An offer is an advertiser's way of gaining customers. An offer may be for a product or service, or merely for registering on a website. Each offer has different terms for completion, which are usually listed along with the offer description. If the offer does not have any "requirements" listed, you may assume that completion requires you to sign up and order the product or service offered.
- How long does it take to get credit for an instant offer?
  Most instant offers will be credited to your account within 24 hours. However, they may occasionally take several hours or even days to show up. If you have not received credit for an instant offer after 7 days, you can use the offer tracking system to request credit.
- How long does it take to get credit for a non-instant offer?
  Most non-instant offers will be credited to your account within a day or two. Occasionally, the advertiser delays reporting for days or even weeks. Specifically, credit card offers can take up to a month or longer to credit.
- What offers do you have?
  Click here to view a complete list.
- Why are my offer completions marked as "expired"?
  Per the Terms of Service, offers and bonuses expire if not cashed out within 180 days of being credited.
  
  We realize that this policy may be frustrating, but if we cannot "close out" accounts after a certain period, our accounting becomes unmanageable.
  
  We feel that 180 days is an adequate time to cashout your funds, since the minimum for payment is low and you can easily reach it by completing no-credit-card-required offers.
- How does the manual credit request process work?
  Click here to read the Offer Credit Information page.
Cashouts
- I've cashed out. How long until I get my money?
  We pay out on or before the 20th of the month after you cashout. That is, if you cashout any time this month, you'll be paid on or around June 20th.
- How much money do I need in my account in order to cash out?
  The minimum balance for cashing out is $25. At least $15 of your balance must come from completed offers.
- What different payment methods do you have, and how do they work?
  We currently offer payments through: PayPal and Check. No matter which method you choose, there are no fees or costs..
- How do you process check payments?
  Checks are sent via USPS First Class Mail to the mailing address on your Smart Cash Deals account.
- Are there special requirements for PayPal payments?
  Yes. There are three main requirements:
  - Multiple Smart Cash Deals users may not share a single PayPal account
  - There must be an active PayPal account at the payment email address. (Sign up now)
  - PayPal accounts must be Verified and located in the United States.
  If any of these requirements present a hardship, we suggest that you select a different cashout method, such as a check.
Referrals
- Can I refer my friends to earn more money?
  Our referral bonus system is very simple:
  - Your friend completes his/her first offer: $2 bonus
  - Your friend cashes out: $5 bonus

أبو ريحانة

اتحاد عذيب للاتصالات, مشغلاً في الممكلة

laziali — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:12:56 +0000

اتحاد عذيب للاتصالات

طرحت الحكومة السعودية ممثلة في هيئة الاتصالات وتقنية المعلومات رخصة تشغيل الهاتف الثابتة وخدمات اتصالات المعلومات للمنافسة ، وقد فاز اتحاد عذيب للاتصالات (وهو تحالف مكون من شركة عذيب التجارية ، شركة النهلة ، شركة البحرين للاتصالات السلكية واللاسلكية (بتلكو) وشركة تراكو) بهذه الرخصة حسب المعايير الدولية التي أوضحتها هيئة الاتصالات وتقنية المعلومات وستملك مجموعة عذيب في هذا الاتحاد الذي يبلغ راس ماله مليار ريال سعودي النصيب الأكبر من أسهمه وحتى يتيسر لمجموعة عذيب سرعة ارثاء خدمات البيانات والصوت والحزمة العريضة لإنها تنوي الاستفادة من تكنولوجيا (WIMAX).

ولقد دأبت عذيب على استراتيجية تهدف للتوسع الإقليمي مستفيدة من ا لفرص التي تتيحها تقنية الاتصال الثابت وتقنية الحزمة العريضة في أسواق سريعة النمو ، وهو مايعد إنجازاً بارزاً آخر يتيح لعذيب تقديم أفضل مالديها من خبرات وابتكارات لسوق المملكة العربية السعودية ، دول الخليج العربي ، ودول الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا .

لمزيد من المعلومات يمكنك زيارة موقع الشركة :

http://www.atheeb.net

أبو ريحانة

التجارة الإلكترونية في السعودية تتجاوز 3.28 مليار دولار ,خلال 2007

laziali — Sat, 31 May 2008 20:56:48 +0000

التجارة الإلكترونية في السعودية تتجاوز 3.28 مليار دولار


42 في المائة من نشطاء التجارة الإلكترونية يستخدمون بطاقات الائتمان

الرياض، المملكة العربية السعودية (CNN)-- أكدت دراسة حديثة أن حجم التجارة الإلكترونية في السعودية تجاوز 3.28 مليار دولار خلال العام 2007 وحده، وذلك بسبب الانتشار الواسع لهذه التعاملات، وارتفاع عدد مستخدمي الشبكة في البلاد.

وذكرت الدراسة أن مستخدمي التجارة الالكترونية في السعودية تجاوزوا 3.5 ملايين مستخدم بنسبة 14.26 في المائة من عدد السكان في المملكة.

وفي تقرير من 75 صفحة، يعتبر خلاصة مسح أعدته مجموعة المرشدين العرب "Arab Advisors Group" لمستخدمي الانترنت في السعودية، أكدت المجموعة أن أكثر من 42 في المائة من نشطاء التجارة الإلكترونية في السعودية يستخدمون بطاقات الائتمان.

وفي هذا السياق، قال جواد عباسي، مؤسس ومدير عام مجموعة المرشدين العرب، ان الازدهار الاقتصادي في السعودية والازدياد المضطرد في عدد مستخدمي الانترنت وعدد السكان الكبير "تشكل قاعدة ممتازة لسوق كبير للتجارة الالكترونية."

أما أندراوس صنوبر، المحلل الرئيسي للمجموعة، فقد أشار إلى أن الدراسة وجدت أن 42.2 في المائة من مستخدمي التجارة الالكترونية في السعودية يستخدمون البطاقات الائتمانية لمشترياتهم، بالإضافة إلى أن نسبة 11.5 في المائة يستخدمون بطاقات التسوق عبر الانترنت الصادرة من بنوكهم.

وقد بين المسح ان غالبية مستخدمي البريد الالكتروني في السعودية يستخدمون خدمات "هوت ميل" Hotmail و "ياهو" Yahooو "جي ميل" Gmail لبريدهم الخاص فيما لم يحصل مزودي خدمات البريد الالكتروني الإقليميين على أكثر من 10 في المائة من مجمل المستخدمين.

يشار إلى أن المسح تم عبر الانترنت مع 1919 مستخدم، بنسبة هامش خطأ اقل من اثنين في المائة.

http://arabic.cnn.com/2008/business/1/8/trade.saudi/index.html

أبو ريحانة

Facebook Mobile

laziali — Tue, 20 May 2008 15:12:45 +0000

Facebook Mobile

You can access Facebook features using a mobile device like a cell phone in three ways: mobile text messages, mobile uploads and mobile Web browsing. Let’s take a look at each of these in turn.

Text messages use a standardized mobile text transfer method called Short Message Service (SMS) or Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS). SMS allows you to send and receive text messages to services like Web sites, voice-mail systems and e-mail servers. An SMS message can only be up to 160 characters long. The MMS standard is an improvement on SMS, with no size limit to messages (though very large messages require an advanced 3G phone network to transfer through the system). Not all phones have SMS or MMS capabilities.

SMS MadnessFacebook isn’t the only social networking service that takes advantage of SMS text transfers. Twitter, a micro-blogging service, uses SMS to let members send messages called Tweets to a network of friends at the same time. Several people have developed applications that integrate SMS with services like LiveJournal, Blogger and MySpace, among others.

When you send a text message from your phone to Facebook, the message transmits to a mobile switching center (MSC), which sends the signal to a signal transfer point (STP). From there, the message goes to a short message service center (SMSC), which then sends the text to Facebook. When Facebook sends a message to your phone, the process is reversed. Using text messages, you can look up basic member profile information, send messages (including pokes and wall posts), add friends to your network and interact with some Facebook applications.

Mobile uploads work in a similar way to text messages, but must use MMS. MMS allows you to send not only text, but also sound files, video and images. The transfer method is similar to SMS, but it requires a handheld device compatible with the MMS standard. Because some devices aren’t MMS compatible, service providers sometimes build in a feature that alerts a user when he or she has received a multimedia message. The message usually tells the user to visit a Web page link to view the message.

With MMS messages sent from your phone, you can upload photos to your profile — they’ll appear in a special uploaded photos section. You can also upload notes or videos from your phone to your profile. In either case, you must create your multimedia message first, then send it to the appropriate e-mail address.

Chris Jackson/Getty Images
Facebook has become the second most visited social networking site on the Internet and the sixth most visited site in the United States. Users can access the popular site from the comfort of home and from their mobile devices.

Your phone must have Web browsing capabilities in order for you to visit Facebook from it. You’ll need to direct your phone’s browser to m.facebook.com, Facebook’s site designed specifically for mobile browsing. To upload notes to Facebook, you send the message to notes@facebook.com. For photos or videos, you send the message to mobile@facebook.com.

Unlike typical Facebook pages, the mobile counterpart’s code is in Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML). XHTML is a more restricted language than standard HTML. One of the reasons for this is that the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an international organization that develops interoperable technologies for the Web, recognized the need for a Web language that mobile devices could easily interpret. Computers have more resources than mobile devices, and can interpret much more complex Web pages than a cell phone or similar gadget. XHTML helps to level the playing field.

for more information visit

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/facebook4.htm

هل يمكن تجاهل التجارة الإلكترونية ؟؟

elijah88 — Tue, 20 May 2008 11:22:23 +0000

هل يمكن تجاهل التجارة الإلكترونية ؟؟

امام واقع ومفرزات عصر التقنية العالية ، ونماء استخدام وسائل التقنية ، وتزايد الاقتناع باعتمادها نمطا لتنفيذ الاعمال ومرتكزا ومحددا للتطور ، وفي ظل دخول غالبية الدول العربية منظمة التجارة الدولية ، وفي ظل متطلبات التجارة الدولية المتمثلة بتحرير التجارة في السلع والخدمات ، ودخول الشركات الاجنبية الاسواق العربية كجهات منافسة حقيقية ، ولما توفره التجارة الالكترونية من تسهيل عمليات التنافس اذا ما توفرت المكنة لتأديتها وتحققت متطلبات نجاح مشاريعها ، فان تجاهلها - عوضا عن انه تعبير عن عدم القدرة على امتلاك ادواتها والتعامل مع تحديات عصر المعلومات - يعدو مغالاة في المحافظة على الانماط التقليدية التي يرى الباحثون انها لن تصمد طويلا ، فالانماط التقليدية للتجارة وان كانت لا تزال هي القائمة ، فان بنية تنفيذها تحولت شيئا فشيئا نحو استخدام الوسائل الالكترونية ، فاذا كانت المصارف لا تزال في غالبيتها تعتمد الوسائل العادية في تنفيذ طلبات الزبائن ، فانها تعتمد على منظومة من تقنيات العمل المصرفي التي تحل فيها التكنولوجيا يوما بعد يوم في كافة مناحي النشاط المصرفي ، مما يجعل تجاهل التجارة الالكترونية في هذا المثال ، امتناعا عن التعامل مع الواقع الذي تعيشه فعلا هذه المؤسسات . ونفس القول يرد على كافة القطاعات ، اليس نشاط الشحن البحري مثلا ينفذ عبر سلسلة من الوسائط والوسائل التقنية ، هل بقي في ميدان النقل والسياحة موضع لم تتم اتمتته وتحوله الى الانماط التقنية .
ان العالم الذي يتجه الى احلال التقنية في كل ميدان من ميادين النشاط الانساني ، وبشكل رئيس ، الخدمات الحيوية والخدمات التي تقدمها الدولة ، سيضع التجارة الالكترونية موضوعا على رأس موضوعات اجندة التطور والتنمية ، لهذا كله ، يعدو تجاهل التجارة الالكترونية امرا غير متناسب مع رغبتنا في التعامل مع الافرازات الايجابية لعصر تقنية المعلومات وامتلاك وسائل مواجهة الاثار السلبية وإفرازات عصر العولمة .

Elijah

E-Commerce applications

laziali — Tue, 13 May 2008 23:31:04 +0000

E-Commerce applications

E-Commerce is a massive growth area, were colossal sums of money are being made
and spent every day. This is largely to do with the hype of the Internet and on-line
shopping. The Internet is growing exponentially, and will continue to grow for some time
to come. This, coupled with good advertising, can provide a solid foundation from which
to launch a stake in the Internet and e-commerce boom.

E-commerce is big business. The fact that people want it is probably the biggest lure for
companies to jump onto the bandwagon, but there are other factors, making e-
commerce a good sense solution.

- Lower transaction costs. If the site is implemented well, the web can significantly lower
order taking costs and customer service costs after the sale by automated processes.

- Variety for shoppers: It gives people the opportunity to shop in different ways.

- The ability to build an order over several days

- The ability to configure products and see actual prices

- The ability to compare prices between multiple vendors

- The ability to search large catalogues easily

- Larger catalogues: On the web, a company can display their entire range. If they were
to print a glossy catalogue to do the same job, it would be too big. E.G. Amazon sells 3
million books. Imagine trying to fit all their available books into a paper catalogue. The
Web cuts out printing cost and distribution.

- Global availability: Anyone with an Internet connection, in any part of the world can
access online services, without costing the company a penny, over and above the
marketing costs. This ubiquitous presence is far greater reaching than a catalogue drop.

- New business model: E-commerce allows people to create completely new business
models. A mail order company has high costs for staff and catalogue printing &
distribution. However in e-commerce these costs fall practically to zero.

There are several ways in which to implement an e-commerce application. Consider the
following.

Out of the Box / Server-Based
Out-of-the-box is an ideal that eliminates, or at least reduces time consuming and
complex e-commerce site building, by providing all of the various functions of an e-
commerce solution from one source. Out-of-the-box is an “instant” low price solution
requiring minimal IT recourses for implementation and operation. It is has a “Lego”
mentality by shielding the user from heavily involved technical programming and
scripting etc, simply by assembling the various software components into an established
framework. This is done using a GUI interface, where the developer moves the software
objects around analogous to the child with Lego bricks, snapping them into place, and
building a functional entity.

Microsoft’s Commerce Server 2000 provides a comprehensive set of features to let
developers quickly build scalable, user-centric, business-to-consumer and business-to-
business e-commerce sites. Commerce Server 2000 offers robust and easy-to-
implement functionality that makes it the ideal solution for building e-commerce
applications. Its features include the following:

Development Tools - Commerce Server 2000 gives developers the power to quickly build
and deploy effective e-commerce sites. Developers get a fast start with a choice of two
starter applications that provide comprehensive e-commerce functionality. -
Personalisation, merchandising, catalogue search, customer service, and business
analytics. - Secure user authentication and group access permissions, purchase order
and requisition handling. - Built-in, online auction capabilities. - Speed up and simplify
development efforts with code samples and in-depth documentation.

Administrative Tools - simplify and centralise administrative tasks such as site
configuration, deployment, operations and maintenance, reducing cost of ownership, and
increasing application availability.

Partners – Microsoft in partnership with independent software vendors, ensure the
highest availability and quality possible for solutions, including credit card validation,
taxation, shipping and handling and content management.

Profile System - helps you manage information about millions of users and groups of
users. In addition, it establishes secure authentication of site to ensure users have
access to authorised areas of your site. You also serve users custom content, such as
special pricing or products, based on the user's profile.

Targeting System - enables one-to-one marketing, determining the most appropriate
content (ads, discounts, up-sells, cross-sells, catalogue data, and more) to provide to a
given user in a given context, based on explicit user preferences. There are many more
features in Commerce Server 2000. For more information, visit Microsoft’s web site at
http://www.microsoft.com/commerceserver/default.asp The price of this solution is
around £6000 with the same being paid again for each licence required. Licensing is
calculated on a per per-CPU basis. In other words, if the server machine running
Commerce 2000 has 4 CPUs, then expect to pay £24000 for your solution!
source: http://ecommercetechnology.org/english/data/69.htm

دورتا وورد & أكسل 2007 "فيديو"

laziali — Thu, 08 May 2008 01:57:03 +0000

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته,.

مجموعة من أهم الدورات التعليمية باللغة العربية

فيديو بالصوت والصورة لأهم برامج الكمبيوتر المعروفة ببرامج اوفيس

2007

التي يحتاجها كل مستخدم بغية المساعدة في تطوير مستوى المستخدم العربي

Microsoft Office Word 2007

دورة تعليم برنامج الأوفيس 2007 الجزء الأول

دورة تعليم برنامج الأوفيس 2007 الجزء الثاني

دورة تعليم برنامج الأوفيس 2007 الجزء الثالث

Microsoft Excel 2007

دورة تعليم برنامج الأكسل 2007 الجزء الأول

دورة تعليم برنامج الأكسل 2007 الجزء الثاني

دورة تعليم برنامج الأكسل 2007 الجزء الثالث

Income Generation Series: Full E-Commerce Websites

laziali — Tue, 06 May 2008 17:56:53 +0000

Income Generation Series: Full E-Commerce Websites

Posted by admin

April 14, 2008

Overview

Full e-commerce websites are focused on promoting a website to generate sales of physical goods. Once a sale is made, goods are then packaged and shipped to the customer. These websites can range from simple part-time operations to huge virtual mega stores. These require much more energy to promote, establish and maintain, but the profit margins can be significantly higher.

Many of these websites have a potential to be optimized. Procedures such as shipping, accounting, and customer contact should be examined to look for opportunities. The goal in running these websites is to streamline operations and increase sales. Sales could potentially be increase by seeking out new untapped sales channels, such as eBay, Craigslist, Froogle, etc.

Analysis

Time: There is significant time requirements to run an e-commerce website. Time must be allocated towards marketing, e-mails, shipping, inventory, accounting, and website maintenance.
Capital: There can be significant capital expenditure required to acquire inventory. Additionally business overhead increases to accommodate inventory storage. There can also be cashflow issues associated with storing inventory, as well as inherent risk of inventory loss.
Scaling: These websites are very difficult to scale. As sales increase, the work associated also increases almost proportionally. Economies of scale can create efficiencies as the websites grow. Although additional employees need to be brought in at a certain growth level, which increases overhead and decreases margins. Significant capital expenditure is often required to properly scale up these types of websites.
Outsourcing: These types of websites are not conducive to virtual outsourcing. Hiring employees to work in-house is needed, due inventory issues. Some of the marketing may be a candidate to outsource to virtual assistants.
ROI: Typical ROI is expected to be 50-100%, although factors such as employee overhead, storage rental fees, transaction fees, and marketing costs can significantly impact profit margins.

Recommendation

There are opportunities in running full e-commerce websites. However, due to the time commitments, lack of scale, and capital requirements, these types of websites will not be a priority in my business plan. The opportunity cost of time is significant with these sites, and my time will be better utilized in other websites that can potentially produce passive income.

http://stubborncapitalist.com/2008/04/14/income-generation-series-full-e-commerce-websites/

أبو ريحانة

Apache, My SQL, PHP, XAMPP, and OScommerce

laziali — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 20:31:24 +0000

This is the MIS-300 "Quiz 4" Material

What is the purpose of each of the following:

Apache, My SQL, PHP, XAMPP, and OScommerce.

APACHE

The Software

Apache is the name of the software that allows you to run a web service on a UNIX server. Apache is very popular and provides access to most web sites on the internet. A recent Netcraft survey of Web Servers around the world placed Apache Powered sites at over 50 percent of the total. Part of the reason for this maybe that it is freely available, reliable and simple to set up and configure, and it can provide most of the requirements for a web site.

Apache complies with the newest level of the Hypertext Transport Protocol, HTTP 1.1. Free support is provided through a bug reporting system and several Usenet newsgroups. Several companies offer priced support.

MySQL

he MySQL® database has become the world's most popular open source database because of its consistent fast performance, high reliability and ease of use. It's used on every continent -- Yes, even Antarctica! -- by individual Web developers as well as many of the world's largest and fastest-growing organizations to save time and money powering their high-volume Web sites, business-critical systems and packaged software -- including industry leaders such as Yahoo!, Alcatel-Lucent, Google, Nokia, YouTube, and Zappos.com.

Not only is MySQL the world's most popular open source database, it's also become the database of choice for a new generation of applications built on the LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP / Perl / Python.) MySQL runs on more than 20 platforms including Linux, Windows, OS/X, HP-UX, AIX, Netware, giving you the kind of flexibility that puts you in control.

Whether you're new to database technology or an experienced developer or DBA, MySQL offers a comprehensive range of certified software, support, training and consulting to make you successful.

MySQL Enterprise includes:

MySQL Enterprise Server software, the most reliable, secure and up-to date version of the world’s most popular open source database
MySQL Enterprise Monitor that continuously monitors your database and proactively advises you on how to implement MySQL best practices
MySQL 24x7 Production Support with fast response times to assist you in the development, deployment and management of MySQL applications

PHP

PHP, which stands for "Hypertext Preprocessor", is a server-side, HTML embedded scripting language used to create dynamic Web pages. Much of its syntax is borrowed from C, Java and Perl with some unique features thrown in. The goal of the language is to allow Web developers to write dynamically generated pages quickly.

In an HTML page, PHP code is enclosed within special PHP tags. When a visitor opens the page, the server processes the PHP code and then sends the output (not the PHP code itself) to the visitor's browser. It means that, unlike JavaScript, you don't have to worry that someone can steal your PHP script.

PHP offers excellent connectivity to many databases including MySQL, Informix, Oracle, Sybase, Solid, PostgreSQL, and Generic ODBC. The popular PHP-MySQL combination (both are open-source products) is available on almost every UNIX host. Being web-oriented, PHP also contains all the functions to do things on the Internet - connecting to remote servers, checking email via POP3 or IMAP, url encoding, setting cookies, redirecting, etc.

ANOTHER PHP

What is PHP?

From the PHP Web site (www.php.net):

"PHP is a server-side, cross-platform, HTML embedded scripting language."

That's a mouthful, but if we break the definition down into smaller pieces, it is easier to understand.

server-side: This means that PHP scripts execute on the Web server, not within the browser on your local machine.
cross-platform: Cross-platform means that PHP scripts can run on many different operating systems and Web servers. PHP is available for the two most popular Web server configurations (IIS running on Windows NT and Apache running on UNIX).
HTML embedded scripting language: This means that PHP statements and commands are actually embedded in your HTML documents. When the Web server sees the PHP statements in the Web page, the server executes the statements and sends the resulting output along with the rest of the HTML. PHP commands are parsed by the server much like Active Server Pages or Cold Fusion tags.

XAMPP

Many people know from their own experience that it's not easy to install an Apache web server and it gets harder if you want to add MySQL, PHP and Perl.

XAMPP is an easy to install Apache distribution containing MySQL, PHP and Perl. XAMPP is really very easy to install and to use - just download, extract and start.

OScommerce

osCommerce is the leading Open Source online shop e-commerce solution that is powered by a dedicated, strong, and ever growing community, and is released under the GNU General Public License.

About osCommerce

osCommerce is an online shop e-commerce solution that offers a wide range of out-of-the-box features that allows online stores to be setup fairly quickly with ease, and is available for free as an Open Source based solution released under the GNU General Public License.

osCommerce was started in March 2000 and has since matured to a solution that is currently powering 13,508 registered live shops around the world.

Today, osCommerce has been taken to the next level, moving towards an e-commerce framework solution that not only remains easy to setup and maintain, but also making it easier for store administrators to present their stores to their customers with their own unique requirements.

The success of osCommerce is secured by a great and active community where members help one another out and participate in development issues reflecting upon the current state of the project.

You are more than welcome to contribute to the success of osCommerce by helping out in the realization of the project, by participating in the forums, by donating to the team developers and sponsoring the project, or just by spreading the word!

We welcome you to the osCommerce community!

About osCommerce

What are some of the important considerations when deciding on shopping cart software?

The ability to create positive shopping experiences for your customers
Tools to allow you to sell effectively
Administrative tools that give you the control to manage your store
The ability to customize and extend the software to suit your business's requirements.

osCommerce is a popular shopping cart that satisfies these considerations. There are limitations of course. osCommerce is not perfect for every business, but using osCommerce, it is now affordable for many businesses to develop and operate a successful shopping site.

Requirements

A web server that supports PHP and MySQL.

Is osCommerce right for your business?

Key Considerations in Changing Your Shopping Cart Software: Short article available in PDF format on key issues for businesses using or thinking of using osCommerce.
osCommerce Review: An overview of the cart software from the merchant and customer's perspective, as well as advantages and disadvantages. Also available as a PDF download.

osCommerce Watch

Latest articles from Attitude's osCommerce Blog, osCommerce Watch. How to improve your store and more.

Fetching RSS feed... please stand by

osCommerce Links

osCommerce Official Site

Contributions
osCommerce contributions are designed to be slotted into an existing osCommerce installation and provide specific enhancements or capabilities.

The New E-Commerce Metrics

laziali — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 20:59:16 +0000

The New E-Commerce Metrics

By Keith Regan
E-Commerce Times
07/03/02 12:38 PM PT

Traffic still matters, because it is the single best way to determine how consumers are behaving online and whether marketing campaigns are working at the most basic levels.

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At first, traffic counts were all that mattered to e-commerce. The number of people visiting a site was the single best gauge of a site's success in a new industry. But times have changed.

As e-commerce has grown more complex -- becoming one of several channels through which consumers research, shop for and ultimately buy goods -- measuring the impact of traffic has become increasingly difficult.

"Traffic is still important, but most everyone in the e-commerce space recognizes that's just one piece of a much larger puzzle now," Nielsen//NetRatings director and senior analyst Lisa Strand told the E-Commerce Times. "The questions we get now are about figuring out that whole mix."

Maturity Factor

While measuring the value of e-commerce in a multichannel shopping environment is, by definition, more difficult, the industry's maturity is helping.

"We've got a lot more experience to look back on," Strand said.

"We have some history to compare behavior to, so we're getting a better handle on why shoppers behave the way they do."

Who What Where

Indeed, a new generation of Web analytics products is aimed at drilling much deeper into the data. Now, retailers want to figure out not just how many people are coming to their site, but what brought them there.

Most importantly, they want to know what prompts people either to leave empty-handed or to push their virtual carts through the checkout process.

"Companies want to understand consumer behavior, from what drives them to a site to what makes them decide to buy or not to buy," Jon Heller, vice president for analytics at DoubleClick (Nasdaq: DCLK) , told the E-Commerce Times.

Last month, DoubleClick released a new metrics product that uses a Web-based system to give retailers real-time information about shopper behavior.

And Why

Using data that most sites are already collecting, the new system can help retailers evaluate and update special offers and figure out what might be triggering shopper behavior.

A site might find that a high percentage of shoppers are clicking through to a certain product's detail page, but not buying. The site's operators could then adjust the information on that page -- lowering the price, for instance -- and quickly determine whether that solves the problem.

Heller said the product, known as SiteAdvance, is designed to help merchants determine the effectiveness of their e-mail and online marketing campaigns, as well as what shoppers do once they get to the site.

"There's a real need in the marketplace to know not just what is happening on a site, but why," Heller said.

One reason that traffic still matters, Heller said, is because it is the single best way to determine how consumers are behaving online and whether marketing campaigns -- offline or online -- are working at the most basic levels.

Buy or Sell

The overall e-commerce trend toward using data to sell more effectively is reflected in the rise of specific analytics products aimed at eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) users.

Last week, software firm and longtime eBay partner Andale launched a new family of products aimed at helping eBay sellers better understand why auction users do what they do.

"Right now, auction management is similar to how stocks were traded in the 1920s: a heavy reliance on innuendo, instinct and rumor," Andale CEO Munjal Shah told the E-Commerce Times. "We're trying to bring the equivalent of real-time quotes and analysis to this marketplace."

Using access to information provided by eBay, Andale's products will track the selling price and volume of thousands of products to help sellers determine the value of investing in features like boldface type or placement in special eBay sections.

"People have been operating in the dark, to a large extent," Shah said. "This sheds some light on what's "happening with other auctions, and why."

http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/18485.html?welcome=1209242724

Introduction and Basic Overview of E-Commerce

laziali — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:40:20 +0000

Introduction and Basic Overview of E-Commerce

The Free Management Library will help you address the major considerations in setting up an e-commerce business. The considerations are as follows.

E-Commerce is Like Any Other Business, Except ...

Developing a business over the Internet requires many of the same major activities as starting any other business. You should do some basic business planning. After all, you need a product. You may need funding to get your business going. You need customers. You need to market products to your customers. You need strong customer service. You need to manage purchases by customers, finances, staff and other resources.

Not All Products Are Very Compatible to Sales Over the Internet

But there are some features unique to e-commerce. Not all products are real compatible to be sold over the Internet. For example, they may require a lot of face-to-face selling. They may cost a lot to ship (a primary practice in e-commerce is that customers buy products, and you ship the products to them). You need to make sure that, because your product may be advertised to the world, that you remain in control of your ideas, or "intellectual property".

You Need an Online "Store"

Basically, you need an "online store" to be an "e-tailer". (Don't fret. You may be able to outsource, or hire, a current store to work with you.) Your store will need a "merchant" account, or the ability to process your customers' credit card transactions over the Internet. This includes needing a "secure server", or that your online store be on a computer system that ensures that customers' credit card numbers cannot readily be read by people who are not supposed to read these numbers. You'll probably need some kind of online order form that customers can complete, in order to purchase your products. You may even want your the processing of customers' order to include processing the customers' credit card numbers right away while they're still online and connected to your Website.

Let's read on to understand the very basics of e-commerce.

Obviously, You Need a Website

You need to design and promote a Website. You'll need access to expertise that can regularly design and maintain this Website for you -- and it will require ongoing attention. Fortunately, there is a great deal of free information available to help you with this design and promotion.

http://www.managementhelp.org/infomgnt/e_cmmrce/e_cmmrce.htm#anchor1167431