About the new user account system

April 17, 2015

The new website offers something H-Pi Instruments never had before: a user account system. This might seem like an inconvenience to some. Why is it a good thing?

Well, it's good for me to be able to keep track of the business in a more organized way than before. In the past, everything was done by hand, through email, without databases. While it's not impossible to work that way for a low-volume business, it's time-consuming, and more importantly it is error-prone. From this point of view, the new system simplifies matters, keeps information correct and consistent, and saves a lot of time.

The system is useful for you, too. In addition to downloading software, you can also manage your software licenses, view your reports (bug reports, and feature requests), and starting today you can also view your account history, including your authorizations and deauthorizations, and your purchases (only the items are listed).

Now the most important question that should be asked of every system like this. Is it secure? Yes, it is. Here are some details to help put your mind at ease:

• Email addresses are authenticated by you and are kept private.
• Passwords are not stored in cleartext; one-way encryption is used.
• No sensitive payment information is stored.

Just to explain a little …

• When you give the system an email address, you have to prove that you own it by responding to an email that is sent to that address. No accounts can be created, and no changes can be made to your account without going through that process.
• The system does not know your password; it only knows whether your password matches a string generated from your password by a special one-way encryption algorithm.
• When you make a purchase, it's handled by PayPal and none of the sensitive information is ever seen by H-Pi Instruments. When you review purchases as part of your account history, only the items you bought are listed.

I hope this gives you a better idea of what the system is all about. If you haven't done so already, please go ahead and open an account.

Best Regards,
Aaron