For each of 12 Mondays from November through January I am summarizing one of my original ideas.(All twelve)
1. I was the key founder of MasterCard (1967) which was itself the original source of the modern all-purpose credit card. Here is the history, with detailed references.
The unique idea that I began with and which has not been appreciated to this date is that a successful new financial instrument, in this case the general purpose consumer credit card, must not be proprietary. The original general purpose credit card was created by Bank of America (BankAmericard), only available through Bank of America or its affiliated banks. When MasterCard was emerging as a card that any bank could offer to its customers, Bank of America changed its vehicle to the modern Visa card, open to all bank customers.
Moreover, at an early date in the introduction of the modern credit card, I realize that no national government could play a role in the ownership or operation of the credit card if it were to have a useful global function. I successfully pushed for international open transactions without governments playing a role.
I believe that these Insights remain applicable to all commerce and are now understood in the open source software world.
The unique idea that I began with and which has not been appreciated to this date is that a successful new financial instrument, in this case the general purpose consumer credit card, must not be proprietary. The original general purpose credit card was created by Bank of America (BankAmericard), only available through Bank of America or its affiliated banks. When MasterCard was emerging as a card that any bank could offer to its customers, Bank of America changed its vehicle to the modern Visa card, open to all bank customers.
Moreover, at an early date in the introduction of the modern credit card, I realize that no national government could play a role in the ownership or operation of the credit card if it were to have a useful global function. I successfully pushed for international open transactions without governments playing a role.
I believe that these Insights remain applicable to all commerce and are now understood in the open source software world.