[GRASSLIST:6712] OT: OpenOSX.com; Book: A Grass GIS Approach - 2nd Edition

Hi List-

Does anyone here have regular dealings with the folks at OpenOSX.com?

Nearly 4 weeks ago, I ordered the subject book from them via their
website, received an email message immediately thereafter announcing
that my credit card had been charged, and yet I _still_ have not
received the book.

I tried sending an email to Jeshua Lacock <jeshua@OpenOSX.com>, who is
listed on the web pages as the company owner a week ago and have heard
no reply from him.

I'm becoming concerned that this company may be fraudulent because I
can't reach anyone about this order.

Anyone here know these people? Are they good folks or have I just given
my CC number to a fly-by-night.

Any replies would be most welcome. Feel free to reply off-list if you
think it most appropriate.

Thanks.

-Kevin

Ian MacMillan wrote:

Hate to tell you this, but this isn't the first complaint with that
company. They seem to disappear for months at a time. And then they
show up again. I ordered my original GRASS 5.0.0 cd through them, so
they have been around a while, however I wouldn't trust them at all
anymore. Too many people have had trouble with them (including personal
friends of mine). I would get all osx grass distributions through
lorezno moretti's page, and get the book through somebody else (probably
doesn't help you now).

G'luck
-Ian

Thanks for your reply, Ian.

Who would be the right person to talk to in the GRASS community about
making a note on the GRASS web page along those lines?

Until getting into GRASS, I had never heard of OpenOSX.com. I found
them through a link on:

http://grass.itc.it/gdp/books.php

pointing me to "Open Source GIS: A GRASS GIS Approach. Second Edition"
at the URL:

http://mpa.itc.it/grassbook2/

Which states:

# International orders: Get from GDF Hannover bR (Germany)
# International orders: OpenOSX.com (U.S.A.)

Maybe that link should be removed. I wish I had ordered the book from
Amazon or BN now. I'm really annoyed with OpenOSX.com and if other
people have complained about them also, then maybe that link should go
bye-bye until Jeshua gets his business model worked out better.

-Kevin

Does anyone here have regular dealings with the folks at OpenOSX.com?

Nearly 4 weeks ago, I ordered the subject book from them via their
website, received an email message immediately thereafter announcing
that my credit card had been charged, and yet I _still_ have not
received the book.

I tried sending an email to Jeshua Lacock <jeshua@OpenOSX.com>, who is
listed on the web pages as the company owner a week ago and have heard
no reply from him.

I'm becoming concerned that this company may be fraudulent because I
can't reach anyone about this order.

Anyone here know these people? Are they good folks or have I just
given my CC number to a fly-by-night.

a quick search of the mailing list archives:

http://grass.itc.it/pipermail/grassuser/2004-July/025994.html
http://grass.itc.it/pipermail/grassuser/2004-July/025995.html
http://grass.itc.it/pipermail/grassuser/2004-July/026006.html
http://grass.itc.it/pipermail/grass5/2005-February/017331.html

Better Business Bureau report:
http://www.oakland.bbb.org/commonreport.html?compid=50016

and the link to GRASS on their website continues to be broken (year+).

..... it is unfortunate to learn that problems remain resolved.

In the end (and as far as I know) I think most people received their
goods from OpenOSX so hopefully any problems the company has only has
to do with organization. I would agree though that charging a credit
card before shipping the product is rather poor practice (if that is in
fact the case; an automated email isn't always the best source of
information).

They have certainly been around for a while, helped with porting GRASS
to the Mac early on, and for what it is worth I purchased the book from
them in 2002 and it arrived without delay.

Try calling their sales number.

best of luck,
Hamish

for whatever it's worth, I recently ordered the openosx GRASS CD and the book "A GRASS GIS Approach" and received both items promptly.

when I had some trouble following the book (the book instructs one to download a dataset for GRASS 5.3 that won't open in GRASS 6) I contacted openosx and their support people got back to me fairly quickly with a reply.

this is not to discredit anyone else's experiences, just to add my own into the mix

paul

Adding my recent experience with OpenOSX...

I also purchased the book from them this year (Jan/Feb) and it arrived
without delay in my friend house at USA. After he traveled to Brazil
and gave me the book. I dont trust in our mail for international
orders...

--
Christian dos Santos Ferreira
Oceanographer. Msc.
Lab. de Tecnologia Pesqueira e Hidroacustica
Fundacao Universidade Federal do Rio Grande (FURG)
Rio Grande - RS - Brazil
Tel +55 (53) 2336528
Website: http://poseidon.furg.br

I would have to echo Paul's remarks from my own experiences with OpenOSX. However, I recall a similar thread on this subject about a year ago.

Regards,
Tom

Paul A. Levine wrote:

for whatever it's worth, I recently ordered the openosx GRASS CD and the book "A GRASS GIS Approach" and received both items promptly.

when I had some trouble following the book (the book instructs one to download a dataset for GRASS 5.3 that won't open in GRASS 6) I contacted openosx and their support people got back to me fairly quickly with a reply.

this is not to discredit anyone else's experiences, just to add my own into the mix

paul

--
Thomas E Adams
National Weather Service
Ohio River Forecast Center
1901 South State Route 134
Wilmington, OH 45177

EMAIL: thomas.adams@noaa.gov

VOICE: 937-383-0528
FAX: 937-383-0033

On Fri, May 06, 2005 at 12:28:49AM -0700, Paul A. Levine wrote:

when I had some trouble following the book (the book instructs one to
download a dataset for GRASS 5.3 that won't open in GRASS 6)

Concerning above problem, Helena and me have started to
create a detailed "update table" for the book:

http://mpa.itc.it/grasstutor/grass6/

We'll complete it in short time. Then we'll add an official
link to this page.

Best regards

Markus
--
Markus Neteler <neteler itc it> http://mpa.itc.it
ITC-irst - Centro per la Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica
MPBA - Predictive Models for Biol. & Environ. Data Analysis
Via Sommarive, 18 - 38050 Povo (Trento), Italy

On May 7, 2005, at 1:25 AM, Markus Neteler wrote:

On Fri, May 06, 2005 at 12:28:49AM -0700, Paul A. Levine wrote:

when I had some trouble following the book (the book instructs one to
download a dataset for GRASS 5.3 that won't open in GRASS 6)

Concerning above problem, Helena and me have started to
create a detailed "update table" for the book:

http://mpa.itc.it/grasstutor/grass6/

Great, the update table is definitely helpful. Also, just to add, that when I had this problem, the members of this list and both of the authors of the book also responded with support. I am starting to understand that one of the advantages of using GRASS is the community, and clearly the advantage of "A GRASS GIS Approach" is that the authors are involved members of this community, so that even though it is a printed book, it is still a
"living document" that will be supplemented with web-accessible material as the GRASS grows. So, I just wanted to point out to the community that not every dealing with OpenOSX has been bad, and that in fact mine was rather good.
Paul