Mastercard (formerly Access) and Visa in Europe are effectively subsidiaries of all the retail banks who issue credit and debit cards using those global networks.
]]>(I've been out of this business for over a decade so my knowledge is slowly decaying.)
]]>(I'm waiting to hear if this is something my editor knows about: if not, I can pass it on up the chain and hopefully get some arses kicked.)
]]>The DRM removal only applies to books from Tor. Orbit, a subsidiary of Hachette, insist on DRM on everything; so do Ace in the US.
The original editions of the first three merchant princes books that Tor UK published back in the day are effectively defunct -- if they're still in the catalog they really ought to be withdrawn. Back then, Tor was applying DRM; I can't see them taking the effort to remove it from dead titles.
So the only DRM-free books should be THE BLOODLINE FEUD and the next two in the series when they debut, plus THE RAPTURE OF THE NERDS.
If you can confirm that THE BLOODLINE FEUD has DRM, I will bring this to the attention of the folks at Tor.
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]]>This is also a good source for UK sf.
]]>Civil service grades (and ex civil service like BT) already map to Milatery Rank and Bob and Mo (as M&P grades managerial and Professionals) have been officers for along time if not from day 1.
What they appear to be grooming Bob for is senior civil service which starts at the brigadier level.
And even the snarky civil servants like Bob and a dare say my self know roughly where they sit.
Though I have mates from BT who can cite chapter and verse on how many square yards of office space each grade should get and exactly which sort of wood there desk should be made of.
]]>Mass market/trade refer to distribution channels. Mass market still exists, but is ailing, in the United States; it's dead as a doornail in the UK (and has been so for 20 years). "Trade" simply means the books are distributed to bookstores like hardcovers -- shipped to the shop on credit from the wholesaler, to be paid for in full or returned within 90 or 120 days of shipping from the distribution hub.
Mass market and trade books traditionally come in different physical sizes because mass market books (the A-format small paperbacks) would have their covers ripped off and returned as proof of destruction, in lieu of payment for sale, as part of the credit terms. It would be kind of embarrassing to rip the covers off trade books (the bookstore would then be liable for the full purchase price) so they were printed in B-format or C-format sizes (bigger).
As there is no more mass market distribution channel, paperbacks are increasingly sold in larger form factors just because someone in Marketing thinks the punters will be happier to pay more for a physically bigger lump of dead tree.
The UK Merchant Princes omnibuses are C-format (i.e. maxi-sized trade) paperbacks. I don't expect them to be reprinted in A-format (mass market sized paperback) at any point.
]]>Tor UK have contacted Waterstones and asked them to remove the DRM from these titles. They are also investigating to see which other Tor titles are affected. We have no ETA for a fix yet -- that's in Waterstones' hands -- but the problem has been actively addressed.
]]>I'm interested, because I have the other/opposite problem - a supplier point-blank refusing to accept/abide by the "Sale of Goods Act" on faulty/non-working kit.
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