We continue to expand the choice of payment methods. These now include WorldPay/RBS, Moneybookers, PayPal and cashU.

What is cashU? cashU is a prepaid Internet payment service. The user can sign up for a free cashU account, which can be funded using a variety of payment methods. Funds added to the cashU account can be used to purchase products and services on cashU’s growing merchant base.

cashU has provided the middle-east region with a key solution for e-commerce. cashU is a payment platform that is built upon and encapsulates the most sophisticated and up to date fraud prevention systems, cashU reduces the risk of online payments and allows for wider, safer and faster consumer participation in e-commerce.

cashU is available in 28 countries around the world. More information at www.cashu.com.

As a concequence we will be switching over to an alternative “Pay As You Go” offer which will allow occasional PamFax users to still use PamFax “On Demand” without needing to buy a monthly plan. The minimum initial credit purchase will be €5 (Skype Credit was €0,99). The reason for the €5 amount is the cost associated with processing smaller amounts.

The good news is that PamFax is still the only product which allows you to send faxes by just paying a small pre-load amount.

This update will be done server side and will not require a PamFax update on your computer.

But this shut-down also includes the Skype Credit payment, which will be switched off shortly. No third-party software will then be able to accept Skype Credit payments.

So how does this affect Scendix/PamConsult products? The simple answer is: not very much.

Let’s take a look at all our products we have for Skype:

Pamela: Pamela only uses the Skype Public API and not the Skype Extras system. So this will not affect Pamela at all.

PamFax: With our upgrade to Pamfax 2.0 including a complete new architecture back in april this year, we are now completely independent from Skype’s Extras system. Current version of PamFax runs on any Windows or Mac machine even if Skype is not installed at all. What we loose in PamFax will be the possibility to buy PamFax Credits with Skype Credits and the entry in Skype’s “Extras” menu (once it will be removed by Skype; “later”). We are already investigating in other payment methods to use PamFax pay-as-you-go for some time now, as we heard from our users that only Skype Credit payment (which was not available on Mac or Linux at all) is not enough. So this is a very good time to add some more payment flexibility to PamFax.
As the fax-sending process is done by our own datacenters all around the world and not by the Skype network, PamFax will even work if they shut off Skype completely. Sometimes, independence is something very nice

Pamela Call Recorder: The Pamela Call Recorder can be seen as a small version of Pamela. So it will work even after this change in Skype. More then a year ago we built a “stand alone” version of the Pamela Call Recorder which can be downloaded from www.pamcorder.com. This version will work even if the user has a Skype version without the Extras Manager system. Just like PamFax you can just keep using the product.

mcePhone, Skype for Salesforce and others: Do not use the Skype Extras system at all. As the public Skype API will live on, there will be no change in these products.

We are still thinking about why Skype goes into this direction: the latest history has shown that opening up a product as a platform and to allow third-party software to connect and to enhance the core products can turn into a real self-runner making the platform and therefore the core product itself much, much more valuable. Think about what these products would be without any third-party software, plugins, addons or whatever they are called for each product: WinAmp, eBay, Apple iPhone, FireFox and thousands of other software products more that are good because there are good plugins for this product.

Could you imagine using an iPhone without any third party software installed on it? What if there would not be a possibility to buy iPhone apps as easy as it is right now? Would you enter your credit card data into a shop system you never saw before from a company that you have never heard before to buy a fun app for USD 1.99 just to try it out? Apple has shown that a very well done “Extras system” with a safe, easy and WORKING payment possibility can boost sales of the apps and the core product.

If Skype did not believe in their Extras System 1.0, perhaps it was because it had so many problems and was not extended for at least 2 years now. It was developed once and then there was no progress at all. Some major things that made the Skype Extras system a flop in our eyes: a) only on windows, not available on Mac or Linux, b) horrible client-only Skype payments implementation, c) very unflexible (games as developer-examples shows the focus when it was developed…), and loads more.
But why it’s so hard for a multi-billion-dollar company to hire some people with the according knowledge and make it better? Skype Extras System 2.0? Just shutting down the whole thing is just a decision at the round table, but standing up for a product platform and fight to make it better than it was before to make it a success is a hard and long road to go.

We believe that some changes are always a good chance to make something much better than it was before. For us, this means finding more ways to market our software and the opportunity to change the pay-as-you-go payment process in PamFax will be a great step forward in making our products even better.

So: R.I.P. Skype Extras System. Let’s find something better out there!

We also did some changes to the website at www.pamfax.biz. New is a twitter feed on the home page as well as some other minor changes.

Detailed changelog:

- Fixed: Empty inbox bug
- Fixed: Error when saving settings containing some special characters
- Fixed: Missing fax-in email notifications
- Fixed: Rounding issue in DRM calculation for Skype payments
- Change: Timezone detection algorithm and date/time formatting routines
- Feature: Added automatic country/timezone/language/currency detection for non-Skype users
- Feature: Change localization settings in portal

Note: No application update is required with this update.

Changelog:

PamFax Server Platform 2.0.10
Fixed: Removed flash document uploader for improved reliability
Fixed: Macintosh application could hang when uploading same file again
Fixed: Issues from error logs and automatic reporting. Improved stability
Fixed: Bug when hovering on submenu-items in portal
Fixed: Missing prices/countries on rates page in PamFax Portal
Fixed: Display of incorrect Skype country for some Macintosh users
Fixed: Hopefully fixed bug with pending faxes where payment was done after the fax was submitted
Change: Changed zone calculation for service and mobile numbers
Change: Added notification settings explanation
Change: Unpaid faxes are deleted after 3 days (was 30 before)
Change: Removed some fax-in area codes (provider related, service level could not be guaranteed)

PamFax application 2.0.x.16 (PamFax Windows only)
Fixed: Installer no longer flashes but downloads all files at once
Change: Removed check if Flash is installed
Change: Updated scanner module with better scanner support
Feature: Availability of a full install package which does not download anything (Link: http://www.pamfax.biz/PamFaxFullInstaller.exe)

Vista Sidebar Gadget 2.0.0.11
Feature: Added PamFax inbox so you can see incoming faxes
Feature: Added auto-update function
Fixed: Occasional disconnect with “server error”

Server changes
Bugfix: Issues with some special characters not showing in cover page (like “{“)
Bugfix: Occasional issues with pending faxes not being sent after payment
Change: Removed the ugly gray placeholder image in PamFax while it is loading images
Change: To improve performance the fax preview has been limited to show max. 5 pages
Feature: Added support for multi-page cover sheets (you can type longer cover page text spanning multiple pages)
Feature:  Re-added the tooltips to the PamFax application (yeah!)
Feature: Added affiliate links support for our future affiliate program

There is no PamFax application update locally required, these are changes we made on the PamFax server side. When you start PamFax you will see the version number (lower left corner) as: 2.0.9.x

We will replace this payment option with MoneyBookers.

The new store is much simpler to navigate and find your way around. In addition it finally provides decent multi-currency support and can handle a large number of credit card processing systems. We still have PayPal but we replaced 2CheckOut with Worldpay. We added Google Checkout who are the only ones that offer Amex support and a really simple and easy payment process. In future we might look at adding systems for particular countries.

The store layout is much cleaner and we have been able to add more license packs, now also for Pamela Call Recorder. Each product can be viewed in detail, you can see exactly what a particular edition offers, what the requirements are and there is even a direct download option. In the past this was often confusing, having the download and purchase on separate pages – people occasionally purchased the wrong license. This should improve with the new store.

The backend side has also improved, you can now login to your account and see your purchase history. The system also provides you with the ability to lookup your activation key and download an invoice for your purchase. For companies within EU we offer the ability to enter the EU-VAT number and purchase without VAT.

The upgrade process has also significantly improved. You login to the store, select a product from the upgrade category, enter your old activation key at checkout and the previous paid price is subtracted from the basket. You only pay the difference. Note though that the entered key is disabled afterwards.

So, with this upgrade we hope you will find it easier to find the right product, with the right currency which fits your need. As always, any comments are greatly appreciated.

• PamFax Business Control Panel: With the PamFax Business Control Panel (also called “BCP”), you can group multiple PamFax users together and control the credits of these users from one account. This is perfect for companies, where only one user buys all the PamFax Credit and controls how many credit the employees get. You can manually send PamFax Credit to the users of your BCP and also set a minimum amount of PamFax Credit your BCP users need. So now, your employees never run out of PamFax Credit and do not need to hassle with payments on their own; all payments can be done through one administrator Pamfax account.
• PamFax Vista Sidebar Gadget: With this gadget, you can see the status of your last faxes, access the PamFax Portal very quick and even start sending a fax more easy:
  
  
• Send to more recipients at once: you can now send a fax to more then 1000 recipients at once. The “multiple recipients” input box now allows to add more numbers and PamFax processes these recipient numbers much, much faster. Sending ads or invitations to lots of recipients is now a breeze with PamFax!
• New installer: We heard your requests about a more flexible installation and improved the PamFax installer: you are now able to select if you want to add desktop icons, install the PamFax printer driver and/or add the Microsoft Office toolbar buttons while installing. The installer is now localized to the major languages as well. So you should feel more comfortable when installing PamFax.
• Use Amazon payments worldwide: You can now use your credit card or other payment data stored in your Amazon account to pay for your faxes in PamFax from all over the world. This feature was introduced in PamFax only to US-citizens some time ago and is now available to everyone. Amazon payments is a very nice payment option, as there is no minimal payment amount and as it’s very secure: you do not have to give us any credit card data if you don’t want to. The payment is handled by Amazon, the faxes are processed and sent by PamFax.

We also analyzed hundreds of logs, test reports and requests to improve PamFax in a lot of minor functions. PamFax should be more stable than ever now and work faster then before.

The website was also updated: all screenshots and texts are up-to-date and the rates-page now also shows all the possibilities from the webshop and lets you select your currency. The FAQ system is currently overworked as well: expect a very flexible modern system that allows you to find the answers to your questions very easy. This will be updated on the website shortly.

Just let us know if you have any issues or other feedback.

Happy faxing!

In addition the latest PamFax version increases the number of ways you can submit a fax. In the past this was only possible in the client directly and via Microsoft Office. Now you can also print your document to PamFax from any application.

Our next step is to get PamFax officially Skype certified and get it listed as Skype Premium Extra. This means that PamFax will be much more easily accessable from the Skype menu Tools, Do More.

Two things people ask for most are Fax-In capability and Mac version. We are looking at how to offer Fax-In as a subscription and will post an update here as soon as there is some news. A Mac version would be really cool, but the main limitation here is that the Skype Extras Manager subsystem which hosts PamFax is not available on Mac. This is the module that also does the payment with Skype Credit. We are looking at alternative ways.

Please keep the feedback coming and should you have issues please take a look at the forum (which has had a major overhaul): www.pamfax.biz/forum.