-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Last month I complained that my multiple attempts to request an account to try out the digicash beta-test ecash system had been ignored. I got half a dozen replies from people who had had exactly the same experience. Shortly afterwards, though, I got email from digicash saying that my account would be activated in a few days. This was on Oct. 21, and I have heard nothing since then. I just figured that I didn't have enough clout for them to bother to respond to me, but today on the www-buyinfo list, Stefan Brands, who many think has the best ecash technology available today, posted that he had had the same experience! Brands himself has still not been given an opportunity to join the beta test. He did not sound very happy about this. I can see that Chaum and Brands are potential competitors to an extent; they both have or will soon have patents which will be necessary for efficient offline systems. But it is clear to me that some form of cross licensing is going to be necessary to have a really clear patent situation. Under the circumstances it seems silly for Chaum to antagonize such an important player in the game. Of course, it may well be a matter of incompetence rather than insult, but the net result is the same. The more I see of digicash's lack of consideration towards their potential customers and important figures like Brands the more I question whether they have the potential to succeed. Hal -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6 iQBVAwUBLt35LhnMLJtOy9MBAQEyPwIA7gDKNK7T+vCp1I+YnUrsDb1sDhTWFO4T olTEgTZnLtbQMLe70bNni2jjL0SShFqHRpSNZbsEPt0UAdmf5Pcf+A== =MZXU -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----