“Money makes the world go around” is a well-known adage, and a similar aphorism could be made about the Internet. Indeed, in the last ten years, a mammoth industry has grown out of and because of the Internet. These days it’s quite common to conduct a considerable part of one’s personal business online, using the Web to manage utilities, bank and securities accounts, and to purchase everything from cruises to cars to compact discs and even candy.
“Money makes the world go around” is a well-known adage, and a similar aphorism could be made about the Internet. Indeed, in the last ten years, a mammoth industry has grown out of and because of the Internet. These days it’s quite common to conduct a considerable part of one’s personal business online, using the Web to manage utilities, bank and securities accounts, and to purchase everything from cruises to cars to compact discs and even candy.
Yes, even in the Internet age, money still makes the world go around — except now the money exchanges hands via cashless transactions performed through a series of web forms and automated interactions between banks and credit card companies.
The irony in all of this is that the bulk of the Internet’s infrastructure is largely based on free software. Open source runs mission-critical services like email, domain name resolution, and web serving, and in many cases, continues to outperform proprietary solutions, providing better reliability and security. That said, it might not come as a surprise that free software also conducts a great many electronic monetary transactions.
In this installment of “Out in the Open,” we introduce a company whose sole business is electronic commerce and whose operations are largely built on open source. As you’ll see, you don’t have to pay for software to enjoy success.
Introducing 2Checkout.com
Columbus, Ohio-based 2Checkout.com (or 2CO, located at http://www.2checkout.com) offers electronic credit card processing services for over 25,000…
Please log in to view this content.
Not Yet a Member?
Register with LinuxMagazine.com and get free access to the entire archive, including:
