Domain name registration, web hosting and e-mail savings comparison with MelbourneIT.com.au

February 14th, 2009

We price ourselves in the middle of the market, while still providing a high level of service. We recently compared our pricing to that of Melbourne IT’s, Australia’s largest domain name registration service – www.melbourneit.com.au

Domain name registration
.com.au – 2 years
Melbourne IT – $140.00
OPMC – $66.00

.com – 1 year
Melbourne IT – $75.00
OPMC – $27.50

.co.nz – 1 year
Melbourne IT – $110.00
OPMC – $43.95

Web Hosting – Monthly
Basic Plan
Melbourne IT – $25.94
OPMC – $9.95

E-mail – Monthly
Minimum plan
Melbourne IT – $19.95 (20 e-mail address minimum plan)
OPMC – $2.15 (1 e-mail address*)

Overall, we were a minimum of 50% cheaper on pricing than Melbourne IT, and if you want to stretch your dollar further you should consider switching to OPMC.

Click here to visit OPMC Australia.

Click here to visit OPMC New Zealand.

*Pricing is comparable when you have 20 e-mail addresses with us, however many clients have just one or two, so the minimum expense with Melbourne IT is significant.
(Pricing in AUD)


Ferrit sneaks out the door

January 17th, 2009

Telecom New Zealand’s Ferrit has been closed down for the most part.

This follows a significant and long advertising campaign to build up the reputation of the online store.

Companies should stick to what they do best. In this case Telecom should have put the money towards NZ’s dismal internet services.

Large companies who try to do something outside their business model, ie Telecom trying to do something fun and “entrepreneurial” should not bother. If the project doesn’t match their business, it’s going to be difficult to make it successful.


Microsoft Appealing to the Masses

January 10th, 2009

I was recently on the eettf.net blog when I found this video. When a large corporation such as Microsoft tries to appeal to the masses, this is the outcome:

I thought this was a joke, but it is actually real:

Microsoft Songsmith

This is, regrettably the outcome of a company who is good at one thing, trying to compete with companies who are good at similar things, but have a different market audience.

I assume this is something they thought could compete with easy to use software from companies such as Apple.

I am tempted to say, this is terrible. It is a ridiculous idea. But what if Apple were to make something similar, first, hype it up and target it differently to their customers, with say a tie in to itunes and the ipod? It could work. But that’s because they would make it for their target audience. I think the problem here is that Microsoft is targetting someone else’s target market. They need to establish a presence in that target market first, which they haven’t done.

Microsoft is really good at Microsoft Office and Microsoft Windows. They should really stick to that, improving it so it works well and is more useful. And perhaps create software you can plug in to it, which is useful.


Parody Site The Onion: MacBook Wheel

January 8th, 2009

Parody Site, The Onion, with a video that sums up “Apple Computer” in a nutshell.


Telecommunication Companies’ application of technology – good, bad and the ugly

December 15th, 2008

At times like these, when I experience internet problems, I am inspired to comment on the state of Telecommunication Companies and their application of technology over time. And how useful is it?

Some quick observations:

-Vodafone Australia phone support attempts to resolve customers problems without having a staff person speak to them. The way in which this process has been established means that it is actually incredibly difficult to speak to a person, when the problem “category” you are experiencing is in their system, but the actual problem you have, is not, or requires you to speak to a person.

-Vodafone New Zealand has a person answering the phone. They resolve issues much more quickly.

-Telstra Bigpond Australia efficiently answers the phone, however today calling technical support I find myself talking to a machine. The voice recognition machine asks me what my type of internet is. Once I’ve advised, the voice then asks me, rhetorically whether I’ve been having problems with my internet or e-mail today. And if so, the issue has been identified and is being worked on. And, I am told, they don’t know when it will be fixed.

This system works great, to a certain extent. To then pursue this further, ie, to enquire as to the current status, the system fails on me. It goes through a very well thought out, yet entirely useless, process of determining what my problem is. When all I was trying to do was find out what the latest situation was.

-TelstraClear New Zealand, prefers to keep people waiting on hold for a long period of time. This exacerbates the issue when the internet stops working and one can only but sit there and wonder when it will be resolved, rather than making any concrete progress. TelstraClear did have a great feature which I used to use, which allowed you to leave a message so someone could call you back. I found this very reliable.

-To my most recent knowledge, all these companies are now allowing online payment, and they bill online too.

You can check your current balance online, even change plans online, these things are very handy. Many of the web based services they offer do add to the experience.

However, I would recommend they all consider doing some research into how people use and benefit from this technology. For example, all people I have spoken to about the Vodafone Australia automated phone process, do not like it. In fact, unless you just want to know what your balance is on your account, I think it fails in many respects.


Internet Banking Flaw a Cause for Concern

November 28th, 2008

We export our bank statements from internet banking to our accounting software Xero every few days.

However, after experiencing some issues with double ups in transaction information I looked into the problem further to try and figure out what was going on.

It quickly became obvious what the problem was:

-If you view or export statements for a period that includes a weekend, say Friday – Sunday, you will see all transactions that occurred during that time.

-But as any transactions that happen during a weekend are not processed until a weekday, when you view or export statements for the start of the week – say Monday to Wednesday – it will show all the transactions that actually occurred during the previous Saturday and Sunday.

The results of this is that if you export for say Friday – Sunday, then export your bank statements for the following Monday – Wednesday, all the transactions that happened on Saturday – Sunday will appear twice.

Thus stuffing up your accounting.

This sort of error highlights the problems with poor web based software testing.

Export in one lot for Friday – Wednesday and you don’t experience the problem.

For a bank, this sort of basic error is avoidable and unacceptable. Next time you’re using internet banking, be sure to check that your transactions are being processed correctly!

Just because internet banking is secure, doesn’t mean the person writing the software that makes it work has covered all bases.


iPhone replaces Palm Treo 750

September 19th, 2008

I have just purchased the iPhone 3G and can say that it delivers on usefulness and userfriendliness.

When you start using lots of the functionality provided by 3rd party applications, such as “TrackThing” which shows you your current speed and location, as well as the distance you’ve travelled since breakfast, the battery starts draining quickly.

If you browse the biggest and best websites, the battery drains off.

However, while the battery life is a concern, I have found using it normally you can have the phone running all day without any problems.

My recommendation is, if you want something that is easy to use, and you want to run your business from your phone at times, this device will do it. Easily. Buy it, do it now.

Just don’t browse the internet too much (you can zoom in using some clever but easy finger work), otherwise your battery life will go down as fast as the Lehman Brothers stock price has this week.


NZ Domain Registration – Now available online

September 19th, 2008

We are pleased to announce you can now purchase .nz website names through our website. Just go to our homepage at www.opmc.co.nz, click on “Register a Domain Name” from the left hand menu. You can then search for domain names, as well as order and purchase them through the website.


iPhone problems symptomatic of new cellphone technology

September 1st, 2008

With the recent launch of the iPhone 3G, a phone that allows people to access the internet at reasonable speeds, from their cellphone, they have been able to deliver the latest technology to the masses.

Avid Apple users appreciate the amount of technology available in the device, there really is a lot of features and functionality.

Novice techo’s benefit from the ease of use of the device, and the merging of different technologies to create a very useful device in a beautiful package.

Regrettably, this device suffers from the same problems symptomatic of any new cellphone technology. The manufacturers have spent so much time on ensuring the device is quick to market, they have failed to offer a device that has a useful lifespan or works to the user’s satisfaction.

Apparently, the battery life can be as low as 5 hours with normal use. Meaning the iPhone 3G needs to be recharged during the middle of the day. Technologies such as GPS no doubt suck up a lot of battery life, meaning a very handy device now becomes somewhat useless to the business traveller who needs to stop their routine to recharge their cellphone, thus hindering their business activities.

Other issues with pushing to be quick to market are that there are a lot of returns and a lot of faults. The web is littered with complaints from users who have this problem or that, with the hardware or software. The Apple service Me.com, a tool that allows the customer to store all their information in one place, and distribute that information to various devices, has been plagued with problems from the start. They didn’t have the time to get it right and so now they are playing catch up.

I always think it’s better to get the second one of something, at the minimum. This gives them a chance to fix a large number of the problems with the first one, and you are not subjected completely to being Guinea Pig.

I have seen the massive errors with these “computer cellphones” in my first purchase, the Palm Treo 750. It could be such a useful device, yet it is so useless. In fact, to the point I now need to upgrade the phone to the latest version of the software – this in itself is a user-unfriendly task. Upgrading deletes everything from the device! You need to backup everything first, then try to piece together your cellphone contents again with substandard and clumsy methods.

Clearly not much thought went into what happens when people buy this phone and things start to go wrong. Upgrading is such a major operatio


3G iPhone coming 11 July

June 11th, 2008

Apple has recently announced that the 3G iPhone is coming to Australia and New Zealand in July 2008.

Apple have really nailed it on the head with this phone. They have taken into consideration feedback from current users and groups, and the outcome is a much better, much cheaper solution, that is now also being sold downunder and will make all our lives much easier.

This will definitely be up there on my list of purchases for July. In business you can’t afford to be inefficient or not have up to the date information, and the iPhone is not only an ideal alternative to Blackberry or Palm based solutions, but it is much better. With the advent of “3G”, or essentially broadband capabilities, this phone will be a very attractive choice for both individuals and businesses in the second half of 2008.