Patent ID: 8055747

Claim:
A computer communicating with a referral server according to a web service definition to select and audit performance of an internet service, the computer comprising: a digital processor coupled to digital memory; at least one network connection; in digital memory, digital processor executable instructions for sending and receiving messages on the at least one network connection to and from the referral server, the instructions comprising: instructions for collecting technical requirements relating to a computing environment of the computer; instructions for sending one or more messages to the referral server requesting information as to providers available in a geographic region of the computer and that meet the technical requirements of the computing environment and including an identifier where the computer is located; instructions for receiving one or more messages from the referral server indicating available services including, currency, and languages available in the geographic region, and a list of plural providers available in the geographic region, and for each provider in the list, a provider name, a description of provider services, a provider icon, a provider URL, or a provider currency; wherein each provider in the list of plural providers is located in the list based on performance ranks that are determined by a formula that includes time discounting of data of performance which weights newer performance data more heavily than older performance data, and wherein the providers in the list with higher performance ranks are listed above providers with lower performance ranks; instructions for obtaining a download code component of a selected one of the plural providers with which to purchase and configure the internet service for the computer from the selected provider; and instructions for sending one or more messages to the referral server auditing performance of the selected available provider, the messages including an indication of successful transaction, or an indication of successful configuration.