Looks like internet taxes are here to stay. We need to focus on simplifying sales tax calculation and remittance.

A server that generates images with text to replace default gravatar image.

The problem we face is not everyone has a gravatar image linkes to their email address. When we show images in place of names, they all look the same and there is no way to differentiate between people. Texatar will generate an image based on text for the user. The color scheme is equally important and is based on a hash of the user's email.

You don't address why this is better than the gravatar options of a random image based on email hash:

identicon: a geometric pattern based on an email hash

monsterid: a generated 'monster' with different colors, faces, etc

wavatar: generated faces with differing features and backgrounds

retro: awesome generated, 8-bit arcade-style pixelated faces

from: http://www.gravatar.com/site/implement/images/

I can see why extra options are good, I'm just confused why you wouldn't compare it against this similar idea that people might be familiar with.

1. The primary motivation was to use the user's initials to one could identify the person. The images made available by Gravatar were too hard to associate with a person.

2. I didn't feel the Gravatar options had the design look I was looking for.

Thanks!

https://www.jabwire.com - collaboration tool for software projects, SaaS revenue

I tested this with an em-websocket (Ruby) server using SSL and after I updated to Chrome 19 (OS X 10.7.3) it no longer works.