A Software Marketing Blog

What Google Knows About You

Wed, 1 Jun 2005 09:00:00 -0400

Axandra has a really thought provoking post in their weekly search engine newsletter. The newsletter details each of Google's services and the personal information that could be collected through each service.

Much has been said about Google collecting personal information from web surfers. Some people are even so disturbed by Google's data mining that they have completely banned Google from their web sites.

What exactly does Google know about you if you use their services? In this article, we try to collect a list of things that Google knows about you.

Find out What Google knows about you

Newsletter Delay

Wed, 1 Jun 2005 09:00:00 -0400

SMR's newsletter will go out June 2, as I received some new information that I want to incorporate. Thanks for your patience!

Copyrights and Ownership

Tue, 31 May 2005 09:00:00 -0400

I recently read a fascinating blog post about "Who Owns Blog Comments", this actually is much more complex than it seems. While the copyright issue in itself may be straight-forward there are many other issues that quickly cause confusion.

Who owns forum comments? What fair use guidelines apply? Is posting in itself an acknowledgement from the copyright holder, that others can use or reproduce their comments?

Both blogs and forums are often syndicated via RSS. Legally who owns the comments and are permissions required to reproduce the comments? Is permission required to index or "recall" the comments as search engines do? Should all blogs and forums require participants to license their content (comments) to the board or blog holder to prevent future legal action?

Read this very interesting post (and all the comments as they raise interesting issues)

CIA Overseeing 3-Day War Game on Internet

Thu, 26 May 2005 09:00:00 -0400

Not exactly related to software marketing, but considering how many software companies rely on the Internet the results of the Cyber War Game are bound to be of interest to developers and online marketers.

The CIA is conducting a secretive war game, dubbed "Silent Horizon," this week to practice defending against an electronic assault on the same scale as the Sept. 11 terrorism attacks.

The three-day exercise, ending Thursday, was meant to test the ability of government and industry to respond to escalating Internet disruptions over many months, according to participants. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the CIA asked them not to disclose details of the sensitive exercise taking place in Charlottesville, Va., about two hours southwest of Washington.

The simulated attacks were carried out five years in the future by a fictional alliance of anti-American organizations, including anti-globalization hackers. The most serious damage was expected to be inflicted in the war game's closing hours.

Complete Article - Cyber War Game

Irresponsible TechWeb Article on Yahoo

Wed, 25 May 2005 09:00:00 -0400

According to the article headline Russians Use Affiliate Model To Spread Spyware, Adware realizing the extent of the spyware and adware problem and knowing Russian developers I find the title a bit misleading. Imagine the reaction from US developers if the headline read - Americans Using Affiliate Model etc... a little irresponsible of TechWeb if you ask me. The practice is very alarming and something the world should know about but the title is misleading.

In any event I hope that the following article does not adversely effect the honest Russian businesses out there.

An online business based in Russia will pay Web sites 6 cents for each machine they infect with adware and spyware, security researchers said Tuesday, calling the practice "awful."

iframeDOLLARS.biz, which according to a WHOIS lookup, is registered to a Nick Fedorov in Nizhny Novgorod, a Russian city on the Volga about 240 miles east of Moscow, will pay Webmasters to place a one-line exploit on their sites. The code exploits a number of patched Windows and Internet Explorer vulnerabilities, including some that go back as far as 2002. Systems that haven't been updated, however, would still be vulnerable to the exploit.

Complete Article

eFocusWorks and Outsourcing Development Jobs

Tue, 24 May 2005 09:00:00 -0400

We've recently been contracting eFocusWork for some side development projects that we've needed done. I've been extremely impressed with their speed, professionalism and communication. I know this is something that is an issue for other developers and just wanted to share my positive experience. I've included a bio of eFocusWorks below.

The projects we've had done were relatively small but we were able to provide the concept and eFocusWorks developed the structure based on our concept. They managed to include all the little details that were not spelled out in the broad concept, delivering on schedule a finished polished product. I really like these guys!

eFocusWorks is information technology (IT) solutions company, dedicated to help businesses grow on the Internet. The company is segmented to provide complete end-to-end services in Application Architecture Design, Outsourcing Development, Graphic Design and build innovative software products that make our customers become efficient Internet enabled users.

eFocusWorks is the creator of Docs&Mail system, a product that helps effectively to organize document exchange in everyday emailing. It is an integrated set of WebToMail application and Document Management System, which is designed for improving efficiency of communications and document management within your team and between you and your customers.

more on eFocusWorks

Software Success Stories

Mon, 23 May 2005 09:00:00 -0400

I'm looking for software success stories. I would like to interview successful developers that will inspire software developers who are struggling or starting out. The interviews will be added to the current section of software success stories . The current stories include Abbyy Software, StopZilla, Alawar, MJT Net, Microvision, iolo and Agnitum. If you have a compelling or inspiring story and would like to be profiled in the software success section please drop me a note.

Anheuser-Bush looks to JibJab to boost beer sales

Mon, 23 May 2005 09:00:00 -0400

Anyone who has witnessed the JibJab creations know that Anheuser-Bush made a smart marketing decision by employing JibJab to draw attention to their brand. While the cartoon is not nearly as entertaining as the political animations the group has done I'm sure it will drawn attention to the Bud brand

Two brothers who created a wildly popular Internet video poking fun at Sen. John Kerry and President Bush during the 2004 election have agreed to produce online entertainment for Budweiser beer, Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. said on Friday.

The move comes as the No. 1 U.S. brewer battles to protect its U.S. market share from rival Miller Brewing, a SABMiller Plc unit (SAB.L). The companies have used advertising as a key weapon in the often contentious fight, marked by ads where the two target each other by name.

Anheuser-Busch said JibJab, which produced the cartoon parody of the presidential candidates campaigning to the tune of Woody Guthrie's classic song "This Land is Your Land," created a 30-second video featuring the popular Budweiser lizards to kick off the partnership.

Complete Article about JibJab and Anheuser-Bush

Side note - I think that Arlo Gutherie wrote "This Land is Your Land" not Woody Guthrie but that is another story.

Valuable Content Portals

Fri, 20 May 2005 08:32:50 -0400

Highly targeted, focused sites that are related to specific market segments are highly advantageous and can often be created using existing web content. The key is to provide value.

Think of the time spent surfing the web gathering resources and information. By creating a topic-centric resource compiling information, webmasters are providing a service or value. In many cases that value is simply the compilation of topic-specific information in a single resource. The compilation of this information in itself is the value.

Read More on Valuable Content Portals

Syndicate Conference

Thu, 19 May 2005 07:35:28 -0400

I've spent the last two days at the Syndicate Conference in NYC. While the networking opportunities were amazing, the sessions were not what I was expecting. I'll be posting a detailed review of the conference. I think many marketers and business people tend to underestimate the power of face to face, meetings. Many of the people I chatted with at the conference I had emailed in the past and that personal connection made all the difference in the world.

I even met Robert Scoble! He is a God in the blogosphere and probably the most popular blogger in the world, amazingly enouigh in person he's a regular guy, and incredibly nice. Face to face connections break down a lot of walls.

New Service - Cool Posters

Tue, 17 May 2005 09:00:00 -0400

Kathy Salisbury just launched a very cool new service. Making full color posters from any pictures/graphics or images. The posters are economical and of excellent quality (we just had some done).
Additional Details on Full Color Posters

Launching a Software Application

Mon, 16 May 2005 06:32:20 -0400

Last fall we launched FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com a tool for creating, editing and publishing RSS feeds. Having recently gone through the experience of a product launch I thought that I would take the opportunity to share my experiences and discuss what worked.

A key to FeedForAll's success was getting to market quickly, and the marketing began before the official product launch. We immediately jumped into creating buzz about RSS with newsletter mentions. We began blogs on multiple sites and RSS feeds so that we could actually measure traffic and interest in RSS. After a short time it was clear that the daily fresh content and interest in RSS was significant, and if we could help educate users to the power and potential of RSS we could drive significant sales.

During the beta testing phase we set up a web page inviting beta testers to email us if they were interested in receiving a discount on the released version. The e-mail established communication and a link to testers. The discount provided the incentive for the testers to initiate communication and allowed us to establish a relationship and dialogue with people who had an interest in the product.

More - Launching a Software Application

PS. Post will be light this week because I'm heading to New York City.

A Closer Look at Shareware Industry Award Nominees

Fri, 13 May 2005 09:00:00 -0400

The SIA Awards are known as the Oscars of the industry where, developers vote and nominate the best of the best. As a result most companies consider a nomination quite humbling. I thought it might be a good idea to take a closer look at the 2005 nominees:

Best Overall Utility
Beyond Compare by Scooter Software - Advanced file and folder comparison utility for Windows, helps visualize changes in code, keeps your directories in sync, and validates copies of your data.
TuneUp Utilities 2004 by TuneUp Software GmbH - TuneUp Utilities 2004 optimizes the performance of your computer, solves problems and helps you to customize your system to suit your needs.

WinRar by win.rar Gmbh - A powerful archive manager. It can backup your data and reduce size of email attachments, decompress RAR, ZIP and other files downloaded from Internet and create new archives in RAR and ZIP file format.
WinZip by WinZip Computing, Inc. - Compression utility for Windows.

Best Application
Advanced Installer Pro by Caphyon Ltd. - Windows Installer authoring tool which enables developers and system administrators to easily build reliable MSI packages that meet the latest Microsoft Windows logo certification requirements and follow the recommended Windows Installer best practices.
TurboDemo by Bernard D&G - Create demos and tutorials in minutes.
UltraEdit by IDM Computer Solutions, Inc. - Text, HEX, HTML, PHP, Java, Perl, Javascript, and programmer's editor!

Best Graphics Program or Utility
Axialis Icon Workshop by Axialis Software - A professional tool designed to Create, Extract, Convert, Manage and Redistribute Windows® Icons.
IrfanView by Irfan Skiljan - A very fast, small, compact and innovative graphic viewer
SnagIt by Techsmith - Capture screen images, text and video, edit and enhance images.

Best Desktop Enhancement
Microangelo Creation by Eclipsit Corporation - Feature-packed icon editor that composes images using multiple editing layers.
OceanDive by SCS Software - Unique combination of a 3D screensaver and a scuba diving exploration game.
Startup Guru by Lincoln Beach Software - Startup manager that will manage how your Windows computer starts up each time.

Best Photo Program or Utility
CoffeeCup Pix Converter by CoffeeCup Software, Inc. - Convert all your digital pictures to use on your Website, sending in email, posting on auction sites and lots more.
Images: In Context! by Liquid Mirror Software - Allows you to edit and stylize your pictures, quicker and easier than ever before without having to open complicated programs and without having to learn professional graphic tools.
PentaSuite DigiPhoto by PentaWare, Inc. - All the utilities a digital photographer will need.
Picasa 2 by Google, Inc. - Software that helps you instantly find, edit and share all the pictures on your PC.

Best Application Using .Net
Guitar and Drum Trainer 2 by Renegade Minds - Guitar and Drum Trainer2 lets you slow down music to make it easier to figure out difficult passages.
SourceGear Vault by SourceGear Corporation - A source control tool designed to be a compelling replacement for Visual SourceSafe.
Vacation Designer by Meliovation, Inc. - Takes you step by step through the process of planning vacations for you and your family.

Best Utility Using .Net
Code Library for .Net by fish - Code Library.
Filehand Search by Filehand, LLC. - Search your hard drive and network drives instantly.
Infragistics Net Advantage Pro by Infragistics - Enable automated testing of the presentation layer.

Best Sound Program or Utility
Blaze Media Pro by Mystik Media, Inc. - All-in-one audio and video converter, editor, recorder, burner, and much more!
Microsoft Media Player by Microsoft Corporation - Audio/video player.
TextAloud by NextUp Technologies, LLC. - Uses voice synthesis to convert text into spoken audio. Listen on your PC or create MP3 or WMA files for use on portable devices like iPods, PocketPCs, and CD players.

Best Vertical Market Program or Utility
Bell Commander by AcroVista Software - An innovative, patent-pending, audio scheduling application which uses standard PCs and low-cost hardware to create a powerful bell/intercom system.
Help and Manual by EC Software - Quickly create professional help systems, user manuals and e-books from a single source.
Registry First Aid by Rose City Softare - Scans the Windows registry for orphan file/folder references, finds these files or folders on your drives that may have been moved from their initial locations, and then corrects your registry entries to match the located files or folders.

Best Business Application or Utility
Black Hole Organizer by Lincoln Beach Software - An information manager for Windows that allows you to keep track of all your important notes and information.
InnoSetup - A free installer for Windows programs.
PayWindow Payroll by ZPAY Payroll Systems, Inc. - Payroll software solution for businesses.

Best Educational Program or Game
AceReader Pro by StepWare, Inc. - Reading Improvement software and reading assessment software.
Cherokee Trails by Pharos Games - Educational game! A wise Cherokee woman transports you from a roadside flea market to a ghostly trail where you can trade with the spirits and unravel the secrets of the Cherokee Trails.
TypingMaster Pro - Learn to type like a professional with TypingMaster Pro touch typing trainer

Best Hobby or Personal Interest
Performance Diet Pro by HealthKeeper, Inc. - Diet and fitness planenr.
Digital Physiognomy by Uniphiz Lab - Predictive methods of fortune-telling include physiognomy (study of facial characteristics) and phrenology (study of contours on the skull). Physiognomy, which claims to find correspondences between bodily features and psychological characteristics, often makes use of such supposed similarities.
Living Cookbook by Radium Technologies, Inc. - Manage your recipes.
PhotoMix by fCoder Group, Inc. - Create digital scrapbooks or collages quickly and easily with PhotoMix.

Best Internet Enhancement
FTP Voyager by Rhino Software, Inc. - File transfer software.
GetRight by Headlight Software, Inc. - Accelerate your downloads and can recover downloads if errors occur.
TheBat! by RITLABS - A powerful email client with a friendly, neat interface. It has every feature that an advanced user will ever need.

Best Internet Communication
AliveChat 3 by Website Alive - Live chat support software solution.
FeedForAll by NotePage, Inc. - Allows users to easily create, edit and publish RSS feeds and podcasts.
Skype by Skype Technologies S.A. - Free Internet telephony software.
Trillian by Cerulean Studios - A fully featured, stand-alone, skinnable chat client that supports AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo Messenger, and IRC.

Best Web Enhancement
AI Roboform by Siber Systems - Password manager and form filler.
BrowserBob Pro 4 Professional - Authoring tool for creating standalone applications with the tools of the web via Drag & Drop. Create everything from custom browsers via interactive presentations to DVD menus and shopping portals.
CoffeeCup Flash Form Builder by CoffeeCup Software, Inc. - A drag and drop program that creates forms
HTML Match by Salty Brine Software, Inc. - HTML comparison tool.

Best Server Program or Utility
DNS4ME by Rhino Software, Inc. -Turns your computer in to a web server, mail server, FTP server, or any other service available on the Internet.
Quick 'n Easy FTP Server by Pablo Software Solutions - A multi threaded FTP server for Windows 98/NT/XP.
Servers Alive by bvba Woodstone - An end-to-end network monitoring tool.

Best Non-Action Game
CrossCraze by ORT Software - A new word game for your PC.
Pretty Good Solitaire by Goodsol Development, Inc. - 610 different solitaire card games
Diamond Tetris by Plutosoftware - A tetris game.
No Limits Roller Coaster Sim - Roller coasters simulation game

Best Action/Arcade
Action Solitaire by Goodsol Development, Inc. - Action Solitaire is played for points against the clock in timed rounds.
Arcade Lines by Lobstersoft - An extremely addictive and very relaxing puzzle game with brilliant graphics, pulsating music and a great variety of different game modes.
Astrogeddon by ORT Software - Asteroid-blasting arcade action featuring fully rendered 3D graphics
PacFish by Suricate Software - A colorful takeoff on the PacMan- style maze games.

Best Program for PDA's
CacheMate by Smittyware - Database for tracking GPS cache hunts
Google Mobile by Google, Inc. - Google search, in the palm of your hand
TealDoc by TealPoint Software, Inc. - Read, edit, and browse documents, Doc files, eBooks and text files with TealDoc, the enhanced doc reader.

Repost - Beta Dogs Testing with Corrected Url

Thu, 12 May 2005 12:56:58 -0400

BetaDogs is a new beta site. Developers are encouraged to submit their beta application. Users are encouraged to frequent the site and to beta test posted applications!

Shareware Industry Award Nominees Announced

Thu, 12 May 2005 09:00:00 -0400

The 2005 Shareware Industry Nominees have been announced! This years nominees include a wide variety of applications, some well known others not.
Check out this years nominees.

Windows Mobile 5.0 Released

Thu, 12 May 2005 09:02:00 -0400

Chairman Bill Gates unveiled Tuesday the newest version of the Windows Mobile software platform at the company's annual mobile and embedded developers conference in Las Vegas.

New features in Windows Mobile 5.0 touted by Gates include stronger memory storage for data management, more platform flexibility for customizations, updated Microsoft Office software for enhanced productivity, and Windows Media Player 10 Mobile for more multimedia options.

New Beta Test Site

Thu, 12 May 2005 09:00:00 -0400

BetaDogs is a new beta site. Developers are encouraged to submit their beta application. Users are encouraged to frequent the site and to beta test posted applications!

Tucows New Look to Match New Attitude

Wed, 11 May 2005 09:00:00 -0400

Tucows has launched a new site design. The site design is both user friendly and developer friendly.

New Site Design
Tucows is committed to making your computing and Internet experience as easy as possible. With that in mind, we have redesigned our site to include more editorial content. We have added articles to explain how you can get the most out of your computer, the Internet and the software that we make available for download.

How Tucows Fights Spyware
Tucows stands firm in its commitment to bring you software that is safe. We test every title to make sure it runs on a variety of systems. We check every program for viruses before placing it online. We run a virus scan on every single file in our system weekly as an added level of protection. Therefore, it only makes sense that Tucows also tests every file to ensure that there is no spyware or adware contained in the program.

Check out the NEW Tucows

Evolution of Google AdSense

Tue, 10 May 2005 09:00:00 -0400

The dot-com balloon is said to have burst but savvy publishers have grabbed the coat tails of the Google search monster and employ Google AdSense on content-rich websites. Google AdSense, a pioneer for providing content-sensitive advertisements, has been a boon to webmasters looking for alternatives to amortize their web trafffic.

The Evolution of Google AdSense

Google Gives AdSense Users a Hint About Where to Place Ads

Mon, 9 May 2005 09:00:00 -0400

Google Give's AdSense Publishers Tips on Where to Place Ads to Insure Success
Certain locations tend to be more successful than others. This "heat map" illustrates these ideal placements on a sample page layout. The colors fade from dark orange (strongest performance) to light yellow (weakest performance). All other things being equal, ad placements above the fold tend to perform better than those below the fold. Ads placed near rich content and navigational aids usually do well because users are focused on those areas of a page.

While this heat map is useful as a positioning guideline, Google strongly recommend putting your users first when deciding on ad placement. Think about their behavior on different pages, and what will be most useful and visible to them. You'll find that the most optimal ad position isn't always what you expect on certain pages.

For example, on pages where users are typically focused on reading an article, ads placed directly below the end of the editorial content tend to perform very well. It's almost as if users finish reading and ask themselves, "What can I do next?" Precisely targeted ads can answer that question for them.

Digital River Announces Winners of Its 2005 ICE Awards for Internet Commerce Excellence

Fri, 6 May 2005 09:00:00 -0400

Not any names that I recognize but -

Digital River, Inc., a global leader in e-commerce outsourcing, today announced the winners of its 2005 ICE Awards for Internet Commerce Excellence. The winning companies were honored last night at a ceremony held in conjunction with Digital River's Network Summit conference in Huntington Beach, Calif. Digital River presented awards in six categories to client companies putting e-commerce best practices to work to optimize and drive revenue through their online stores. The winners included:

-- Newegg.com for Best Online Performance by a Retailer

-- Trend Micro, Inc. for Best International E-Commerce Strategy

-- Pinnacle Systems(R), Inc. and Symantec Corp. for Best Promotional Performance

-- Simply Youth Ministry for Best Direct Marketing Performance

-- FarStone Technology, Inc. for Best Network Sales Performance

-- Allume Systems, Inc. and Tenebril(TM), Inc. for Best Product Launch

"We are pleased to recognize these companies for their e-commerce leadership and use of best practices," said Joel Ronning, Digital River's CEO. "Our ICE Award recipients are experts at fine tuning their sites, optimizing their e-commerce programs, and delivering top quality online shopping experiences for their customers. They understand the importance of integrated marketing, regular testing and building relationships with their customers. And they have a multi-channel vision for growing their businesses across international boundaries. Their online performances are impressive."

Each of Digital River's award winners submitted entries, which summarized the e-commerce best practice campaigns they implemented and the results they generated by marketing and selling products in their online stores

Learn What the Did to Win

The Benefits to Topical Search Engines

Thu, 5 May 2005 09:00:00 -0400

While many marketers are scrambling for links, any links, an area that is often overlooked is topic-specific search engines. What many don't realize is that these engines do produce traffic, and they often contain traffic that is very targeted. Anyone who has taken the time to analyze weblogs and track sales sources will likely see that targeted traffic converts at a significantly higher rate than non-targeted traffic.

A savvy online marketer realizes that often, the quality of the visitor is far more important than the quantity of visitors. Web marketers should focus their energies on attracting targeted traffic whenever possible.

Complete Article - The Benefit of Topical Search Engines

SIAF People's Choice Awards

Tue, 3 May 2005 08:38:21 -0400

The voting for the SIAF People's Choice Awards has begun. You may encourage your users and website visitors to vote for your applications. Graphics to use on your web page can be found here:

http://www.sic.org/peopleschoiceimages.asp
and the link to associate with it is:
http://www.siafvoiting.com/pca/?ID-SIAF

Voting will end at 12 Noon MDT on Tuesday May 31st. Winners will be announced at the Shareware Industry Awards Banquet.

PadCaster - RSS Appcaster Feed Creator

Tue, 3 May 2005 08:34:44 -0400

PadCaster is a commandline tool that converts a MacPAD application to an RSS 2.0 feed. The feed PadCaster produces update notifications. Additional Details - PadCaster

Grand Rapids Schmooze Dates Announced

Tue, 3 May 2005 08:32:59 -0400

The 2005 Grand Rapids Schmooze will be September 15 -17, 2005. Additional details can be found online.

Software Marketing Newsletter Available

Mon, 2 May 2005 09:00:00 -0400

The May issue of Software Marketing news is available. The issues contains search engine resources and tips, advice related to the Shareware Industry Conference, an article about launching software and information on software piracy.

Read this month's Software Marketing News

Why Adware Is Here To Stay: It's Very Big Business

Tue, 26 Apr 2005 09:00:00 -0400

Robin Good posted a very interesting article about Adware -

"If Richard Stiennon's calculations are accurate, the adware industry could be generating revenues of up to USD 2.5 billion a year. The top seven adware producers are making between USD 65 million and USD 200 million each."

Complete Article - Why Adware Is Here To Stay

New Google AdWords Site Targeting Allows Advertisers To Pick & Choose

Mon, 25 Apr 2005 09:00:00 -0400

Marketers using Google AdWords, rejoice! For ages, many of you have wanted the ability to pick and choose exactly where your ads would show up in Google AdSense contextual network. Now you're getting it.

Beginning today, some Google advertisers will have access to a new tool allowing them to select particular sites. Over the coming weeks, the scope will be expanded until all advertisers have access to the new feature, Google says.

The new tool will allow advertisers to enter the URL of a site they are interested in, then get back a list of similar sites, then let them select exactly the ones they wish to target. A new exclusion tool will also let them "go broad" and take everything, then selectively remove sites they wish to exclude.

Complete Article - Google AdWords Changes

Top 10 Tips for Bloggers

Fri, 22 Apr 2005 07:55:20 -0400

10 Tips for Bloggers - There are no hard and fast rules on how to blog. Having said that, bloggers will likely increase their exposure by following some simple blog guidelines.

1.) Stay on topic.
Opinions are generally accepted but the content of the items in the blog should all relate to a general theme. Unless you have an uncanny knack for wit, humor or cynicism, the majority of your readers will be interested in the content that relates to a specific defined theme or loosely defined area of interest. Most readers won't care that you eat Cheerios for breakfast. They may, however, be interested in the fact that vinegar takes out stains and that toilet paper rolls make great wreaths. Define a topic and stick to it. This will ensure that you create a loyal following of interested readers.

More - Read Complete Article - 10 Tips for Bloggers

Software Business Magazine Award Nominations

Thu, 21 Apr 2005 09:00:00 -0400

Winners To Be Recognized at Software Business 2005 November 1-2, in Tampa Florida.

Awards are given to companies in nine categories, including Industry Leadership, Business Development, Sales Strategy, Partnering, Financing and others. Past award winners include some of the largest software companies and some of the most innovative private companies with cutting-edge technologies.

Winners will be announced in the September/October issue of Software Business Magazine. Executives from the winning companies will be recognized at the conference in an award ceremony and will speak on November 2 about the secrets to their companies_success to the audience of C-level executives in attendance.

The 2005 Software Business Industry Awards

Leaders who have demonstrated innovative or trend-setting achievements in the following categories will be recognized:

Best Financing
Best Acquisition
Best Technology
Best Sales Strategy
Best Product Strategy
Best Partnering Initiative
Business Development Excellence
Product Development Excellence
Industry Leadership Excellence

Nominate your company or a company which best exemplifies a leadership position in one of the above awards categories. Just send an e-mail to Scott Gates by June 30, 2005, with a concise summary of the nominee's innovation or achievement in up to three given categories.

Visit www.softwarebusinessonline.com/SIawards2005.htm for the nomination information.

European ShareWare Conference to be held in Belgium

Wed, 20 Apr 2005 09:00:00 -0400

European Shareware Conference will be held in Brussels, Belgium. The 5th annual European ShareWare Conference has just announced that it's opening doors across Cyberspace will take place on the 5th and 6th of November 2005 in Brussels, Belgium .

Software Download Sites

Tue, 19 Apr 2005 09:00:00 -0400

As we find new software sites we add the submission pages to the large list of download sites we've found.

It seems these sites are popping up at an increasing rate, and we've found a number of new sites in recent days. The sites appear all to use PAD and submissions just take moments. Its unclear however how popular the sites are or will become.

Download Software Search - submit
IndoDigest - submit
Free Software Programs - submit
Rebusnet - submit
Software Matrix - submit
or simply refer to the complete list of software submission sites another alternative is to use a promotional company that specializes in software. I highly recommend Shareware Promotions and/or Dr File Finder. Submissions can be excessively time consuming and it often makes sense to outsource so developers can focus on what they know best.

Adobe to buy Macromedia for $3.4B

Tue, 19 Apr 2005 09:00:00 -0400

Graphic software developer to pay 25% premium in bid to expand audio and video applications.

Computer document company Adobe Systems Inc. said Monday it agreed to buy multimedia software firm Macromedia Inc. for about $3.4 billion in stock, in a move designed to extend its lead in the market for creating and distributing digital documents.

Complete Article

Submit Programs to be Considered as Shareware Industry Conference Nominations

Mon, 18 Apr 2005 09:00:00 -0400

I recently visited the Shareware Industry Conference suggested program nominations, and was very surprised by the few entries in many of the categories.
If your program has been released or updated in the last year consider adding it! The Shareware Industry Awards are extremely well respected and known and nominated applications as well as the winners receive significant exposure.

Submit an Application or View Current Submissions.

Happy Birthday askSam

Sun, 17 Apr 2005 09:00:00 -0400

20 years ago this month askSam shipped their first version. askSam celebrated by releasing askSam version 6, which now offers users a completely new way for to organize and navigate their information!

Happy Birthday to these PC database pioneers.

IBM Tries To Lure Developers With Free Services

Thu, 14 Apr 2005 09:00:00 -0400

IBM on Monday expanded its technical services to independent software developers, offering free limited-time access to its consultants. Any developers signing up to participate in the PartnerWorld Industry Network program on IBM's Virtual Innovation Center Web site can get six months of unlimited E-mail technical support and a two- to three-hour individual telephone consultation.

"We're trying to help developers get their applications to the marketplace," says Todd Chase, director of IBM innovation centers.

The free resources are intended to help developers create software for specific applications such as customer-relationship management or for specific technologies such as grid computing that operate within an IBM environment or platform, he says.

IBM has made similar resources available in the past to some of its top strategic partners, but "for some period of time we're opening up these resources to everyone."

More Info

Microsoft Suits Target Illegal Software Distribution

Thu, 14 Apr 2005 09:15:00 -0400

Microsoft Corp. on Monday filed eight lawsuits in seven states against computer builders and resellers for allegedly distributing counterfeit and unlicensed software.
The suits filed in California, Florida, Texas, New Jersey, Alabama, Maryland and Rhode Island accuse the defendants of copyright and trademark infringement, the Redmond, Wash., software company said. In one of the cases, the defendant is also accused of violating the federal Anti-Counterfeiting Amendments Act, which provides criminal and civil penalties for distributing a company's Certificate of Authenticity labels.

The suits were filed after the companies failed to stop the alleged activity after Microsoft contacted them, the company said.

Apple to Unleash Tiger OS on April 29

Thu, 14 Apr 2005 11:17:02 -0400

Apple is launching its Mac OS X Tiger (Version 10.4) on the 29th of this month. The company maintains that this version is equipped with additional security and desktop features. The OS also includes a new version of the Safari browser with a built-in RSS newsreader.

Digital River Announces its Ninth Network Summit for E-Commerce Clients

Thu, 14 Apr 2005 09:00:00 -0400

Digital River, Inc. announced that its semiannual Network Summit is scheduled for May 3-5, 2005, at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa in Huntington Beach, Calif. The event offers clients within Digital River's Sales Network an open forum for building joint marketing and sales partnerships as well as more than 25 educational sessions focused on revenue generation. Summit attendees will learn how they can expand their online businesses using e-marketing best practices, global e-commerce markets, online retail channels, digital rights management, and direct and try-before-you-buy sales models.

"One of the most powerful business building tools that we can offer our clients is access to Digital River's Sales Network - an online channel made up of tens of thousands of software publishers, online retailers, and content and portal sites," said Joel Ronning, Digital River's CEO. "By leveraging relationships within this network our clients can create joint marketing and sales opportunities to open new markets, broaden their product exposure and create incremental revenue streams. Along with a substantial educational program, our Network Sales Summit provides the perfect forum for facilitating these important third-party relationships and helping our clients generate results for their online businesses that otherwise would be difficult and cost prohibitive for them to achieve on their own."

During the last several years, thousands of joint client promotions have been defined at Digital River's Network Summits. At the event, Digital River clients can attend pre-scheduled meetings to discuss marketing partnerships. Based on these partnerships, clients agree to host each other's products online, then market and sell the products to their respective customer lists in exchange for a shared revenue arrangement. During 2004, Digital River hosted two Network Summits that produced more than 700 third-party agreements and millions of dollars in online revenue.

Digital River's spring summit features guest presentations by representatives from PC World, JupiterResearch and other industry leaders. For more information about the event or to register, contact Cindy Lou Ferris, Digital River's senior marketing strategist and client relations manager, at 952-253-8502.

Digital River plans to hold its tenth Network Summit in the fall of 2005. Details about this summit will be announced at a later date.

Submit RSS Feeds to Categorized RSS Search Engine

Wed, 13 Apr 2005 09:00:00 -0400

RSS Network is a new categorized RSS search engine. Submit your RSS feed and select the appropriate category.

Feeds are indexed and all items in the feed are searchable!

Niche Sites Are Valuable Assets

Tue, 12 Apr 2005 09:00:00 -0400

While many marketers are scrambling for links, any links, an area that is oft over looked is topic specific search engines. What many don't realize is that these engines are used and they often contain traffic that is very targeted. Anyone who has taken the time to analyze weblogs will see that targeted traffic converts at a significantly higher rate than non-targeted traffic.

A savvy web marketer should focus their energies on attracting targeted traffic whenever possible. Consider the following niche engines:
Investing Partners
Horse Stall
Digital Photo Tips

or even a directory engine like the one for RSS feeds at:
RSS Network

Imagine the targeted traffic that you can receive from one of the above links.

Topic Specific Search Directories

Mon, 11 Apr 2005 09:00:00 -0400

The following are great resources to find topic speific search directories:

Search Engine Guide
Search Engine Watch

Specialty search engines are the up and coming thing.

Marketleap Search Engine Marketing Tools

Mon, 11 Apr 2005 09:00:00 -0400

Link popularity check is one of the best ways to quantifiably and independently measure your website's online awareness and overall visibility. Simply put, link popularity refers to the total number of links or "votes" that a search engine has found for your website.

Marketleap has designed this link popularity tool to help website owners find out who is linking to their site, but also to give a useful benchmarking report to quickly show where you stand in comparison to competitors and other major online players.

Check out MarketLeap's Link Popularity

Small Businesses Are Killing the People Who Create Them

Wed, 6 Apr 2005 09:00:00 -0400

Very interesting perspective:

Most new businesses fail because their owners think of themselves as entrepreneurs—-when they’re really just “technicians suffering from entrepreneurial seizures,” according to bestselling author Michael Gerber in an exclusive interview in the April 2005 issue of Management Consulting News. Gerber is the bestselling author of five books, including his most recent, E-Myth Mastery.

Gerber explains that true entrepreneurs must go beyond the technical work they know and love to master business planning, marketing, and financial management. They must work ON their businesses, not just IN them.

Expanded Services Include CD Fulfillment at Great Mind Software

Tue, 5 Apr 2005 09:00:00 -0400

International sellers, or sellers who do not wish to fill orders themselves, may use the Great Mind Software CD service.

Great Mind Software will notify you of Amazon orders and then they will fill the orders and ship them.

The standard deluxe package consists of a white DVD case with color inkjet-printing directly on the CD. They will print an insert for the DVD case: full color on the front panel, with black and white printing on the spine, and black and white printing on the back. The packing slip will be clipped inside the DVD case.

The price for one-off CDs in the DVD case is $ 7.99 plus shipping!

Additional Information

Microsoft ex-employee sentenced for software theft - Piracy Doesn't Pay

Mon, 4 Apr 2005 09:00:00 -0400

A former employee of Microsoft Corp was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay more than $5 million in restitution for selling the world's largest software maker's products for personal gain, federal prosecutors said.

Richard Gregg, 45, agreed to a plea agreement in US District Court in Seattle, where he admitted to ordering more than $13 million worth of software meant for internal use and selling it to pay off a mortgage and buy luxury cars.

Gregg, who worked at Microsoft until late 2002, had cooperated with prosecutors in their investigation, a fact that Judge John Coughenour said he took into consideration at the sentencing.

Complete Article

New Software Developer, Online Marketing and Small Business News

Fri, 1 Apr 2005 09:00:00 -0400

The April issue of Software Marketing News, an independent voice for software developers has been posted.

The newsletter covers software awards, articles related to software and online marketing as well as a myriad of other things that are relevant to software development, online marketing and management of a small business.

If you wish to subscribe to the newsletter simply email webmaster@softwaremarketingresource.com with 'subscribe' as the subject line.

The Sad State of Selling Software: Stuck in a Swamp of Skepticism

Thu, 31 Mar 2005 09:00:00 -0400

Kristin Zhivago has announced today that the conversion of her webletter, the Revenue Journal, to a blog. Her first blog post, entitled "The Sad State of Selling Software: Stuck in A Swamp of Skepticism," explains why it is so difficult for software vendors to sell into larger companies right now and what they can do to increase their closing rate. It is located at http://www.RevenueJournal.com.

"It was Benjamin Franklin who said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results," says Zhivago, a recognized expert in high-tech marketing and a revenue coach for company owners. "Today’s software buyer has been so badly burned by CRM, ERP, and other enterprise-wide, 'revolutionary' systems that they are very, very skeptical. And yet, software vendors are selling as if nothing has changed. They're behaving as if they're still selling to customers who breathlessly await the next new technology. Those days ended somewhere around 1987, after the first round of PC buyers found out that IBM's famous 'blue suit' service was not included with every PC shipped. Customer skepticism has been growing ever since. It's higher now than I've ever seen it."

"It is possible to lead buyers out of the Skepticism Swamp," Zhivago claims. "I provide three proven methods in this article. But I imagine we will be revisiting the subject in future posts on the Revenue Journal. The ill will created by years of broken promises is going to be difficult for the entire software industry to overcome."

Not sure but maybe they ought to contemplate an amazing new concept - let their customers try before they buy! ;-)

Fun Software Development Blog

Tue, 29 Mar 2005 09:00:00 -0400

An industry favorite, Kathy Salisbury, has a software blog. The blog has anecdotal stories and is really a fun read.

I love some of the ideas Kathy has recently. Including Great Mind Software and general ideas about how to diversify her income. Keep an eye on some of Kathy's marketing plans I have a feeling all of us will be impressed.

Interesting Resource - SoftwareMarket Solution

Mon, 28 Mar 2005 09:00:00 -0400

The State of Requirements Development in Software Today, Part I of a Multipart Series

The Need for Clear Requirements

As software systems have become increasingly more complex, pervasive, and interactive, both with new classes of devices and with each other, the necessity of developing and communicating requirements and specifications that precisely specify the behaviors, qualities, and usage of highly interactive software with high levels of clarity has been widely acknowledged.

Complete Article - SoftwareMarket Solution

Shareware Industry Awards and People's Choice Awards Update

Thu, 24 Mar 2005 19:25:27 -0400

SIA Voter Registration
==================
Voter Registration for the Shareware Industry Awards will begin on April 1st and end on April 30th. There will be links to the voter registration area in the author area on CNET, the Tucows ARC area, and the author area on Simtel. There will also be a link on the SIAF Web site at http://www.sic.org/. In case you want to mark it in
your calendar this has been standardized so it will start the same time *every* year.

NOTE: IF you have registered to vote on the Shareware Industry Awards in the past, you do NOT need to register unless you have not participated in two years.

Program Submission
==================
Program submission -- Goes live on the SIAF Web site on April 1st also. This is also standardized so it is the same each year. Beginning April 1st software authors will be able to submit their program(s) for consideration by those who vote on the Shareware Industry Awards by using a PAD format file. The link for submitting programs OR viewing those that have been submitted will be on the SIAF Web site. Those nominating will be encouraged to visit these pages.

Note: A product does NOT have to be submitted to the SIAF site in order to be nominated.

Shareware Industry Awards
===================================
The voting panel, which consists of five (5) members is the same group as last year. They will once again help in counting and verifying the votes for both the Shareware Industry Awards and People's Choice Awards.

The Shareware Industry Awards nominations will begin on Monday May 2nd, 2005 and will end at 12 Noon MDT on Monday May 9th, 2005. The nominees will be posted on the SIAF Web site by May 10th. Links will be included for each nominated program and the developers Web site.

From May 10th through May 22nd those who vote will have time to evaluate each nominated program. Voting for the Shareware Industry Awards will begin on Monday May 23rd and end on Monday May 30th at at 12 Noon MDT. Winners will be announced at the annual Shareware Industry Awards banquet.

SIAF People's Choice Awards
==============================
Lastly, the voting for the annual SIAF People's Choice Awards will begin on May 1nd, 2005 and will end on May 31st, 2005. Voting sites will be located on CNET, Simtel, and Tucows, and Simtel, as well as on the SIAF site.

And once again authors are encouraged to tell their users and Web visitors about the voting and include links to the voting page. The SIAF will have graphics available as it gets closer to the voting. And, this year we'll be using a new voting system that's even more secure and more user-friendly.

Visiting Sites That You "Know" - Great Resources Change

Wed, 23 Mar 2005 08:24:01 -0400

I recently visited the Shareware Promotions site and was really impressed with the new information that I found. Dave and I have been friends for quite some time and I knew they had redesigned the website but I had not realized the extent of the information and resources in the new website. I was also unaware of all of the new servicesthat Shareware Promotions offers. They cover software evaluation, site submission, search engine optimization, website evaluation as well as both short and long term marketing packages.

Each section links to additional information and more resources! I know how I'm spending the morning. Whats great about Dave is he provides detailed how to information for free, but if you don't have the time they will provide the services for you for a fee. I'm quickly learning what a valuable commodity time is...

Shareware Industry Conference Registration Special!

Tue, 22 Mar 2005 09:00:00 -0400

Until April 1st early conference registration is only $99, after that conference registration is only $129! Walk-in registrations at the door will be $149. Conference registration includes admittance to all conference activities including educational sessions and evening receptions. To participate in the Shareware Industry Awards banquet on Saturday evening the cost is $45. The banquet menu is a four course meal of soup, salad, main entree and dessert. You can choose from a beef, chicken, or vegetarian entree.

Register Now and Save

The Shareware Industry Conference is the premier industry event with exciting and informative breakout sessions, lots of networking, exhibit night and much more. Additional information on the Shareware Industry Conference

Google Mimics Amazon And EBay In Courting Software Developers

Mon, 21 Mar 2005 09:00:00 -0400

Like its fellow E-commerce leviathans Amazon.com and eBay, Google is facing a reality of the Internet business: It needs to court independent software programmers as well as customers. Google today launched code.google.com, a site for programmers interested in writing applications that work in coordination with Google's search site.
It initially includes four projects that Google developers have worked on and are releasing as open-source code through SourceForge, as well as application programming interfaces that are used to let other software interact with Google.

Companies like Google, Amazon, and eBay are increasingly courting outside programmers to create tools that interact with their Web sites, hoping to become online hubs of commerce with themselves as the technology platform in the middle of it.

Complete Article

DR Pays $ 8.8 million for SWREG

Sun, 20 Mar 2005 11:29:14 -0400

E-commerce outsourcing provider Digital River (digitalriver.com) announced on Friday that it had acquired SWReg, a provider of e-commerce services for software authors.

Under the agreement terms, Digital River acquired certain assets and assumed certain liabilities, vendor contracts and intellectual property of SWReg for $8.8 million in cash.

Digital River says the agreement allows it to make additional earn-out payments of cash based on achieving specific revenue and development goals over the first 12 months following close of the acquisition. The company's first quarter 2005 revised financial expectations announced on Thursday were not affected.

"This acquisition is a continuation of our strategy to extend our global footprint and expand our client base, software library and online sales network," says Digital River CEO Joel Ronning. "Moving forward, we intend to capitalize on this strong foundation by offering our clients broader access to global online markets and new opportunities to drive online revenues and operational efficiencies."

ICE Awards - Recognizes Clients for Internet Commerce Excellence

Fri, 18 Mar 2005 09:00:00 -0400

Well this appears to be a week about Digital River so why stop now ;-)

Digital River announced the call for entries to its 2005 ICE Awards. I believe typically only corporate (retail) Digital River clients participate but I read the rules and it doesn't appear that it is restricted to retail software so I decided to tell all developers about the awards. While many are frustrated with industry consolidation developers have the opportunity to benefit from Digital River's size. Digital River will present each of its ICE Awards winners with a crystal ICE Award. In addition, they each will receive one complimentary invitation and admission applicable for the Fall 2005 Network Sales Summit. ICE Awards winners also will have opportunities to be recognized by local and national media. Because of Digital River's girth they garner media attention and it would be great if the awards are able to draw attention to small developers who are using innovation to drive sales online!

The awards showcase small and large companies alike - savvy companies that are putting e-commerce best practices to work in creative new ways to drive revenues and efficiencies through their online stores. If you can tell a story about a B2B or B2C e-commerce strategy or campaign that generated compelling results, you could be one of Digital River's next ICE Awards winners.

The following are the Digital River ICE Awards 2005 Qualifications
Tips for Writing Memorable ICE Awards Entries
· Include financial results.
· Include measurable results (i.e. increased close ratios by x percent; sales for product y increased $z or x percent; increased operational efficiencies by y percent; site traffic increased x percent).
· Don't worry about the writing - we're looking for a detail-rich explanation about your e-commerce objectives, program and results, not a Pulitzer Prize winning composition.

Qualifications
· Entrants must be current Digital River clients.
(I imagine this means any Digital River property but I will clarify this with Brant - DR properties currently include: RegNow, RegSoft, Emetrix, RegNet, Share-It, Element-5, Qwerks, Digi-Buy, PSL)
· The campaign or initiative that you describe in the ICE Awards entry must have been launched and have generated measurable results between April 1, 2004, and March 31, 2005.
· Your company can enter multiple awards categories but only one category can be submitted per entry form.
· Your company cannot win the same ICE Award consecutively.
· Judges will select up to two winners in each ICE Awards category.
· Candidates and winners of the ICE Awards must be willing to disclose "measurable results." It is preferable that you share the financial results of your e-commerce campaigns and strategies. However, important metrics (actual or percent increase) that represent barometers of success must be shared.
· Winners of the ICE Awards must agree to have their names published in a press release.
· Winners of the ICE Awards must be willing to speak to the press on a pre-approval basis.
· Winners of the ICE Awards must be willing to have their stories published on Digital River's corporate Web site.

Prizes
· Digital River will present each of its ICE Awards winners with a crystal ICE Award.
· Each ICE Awards winner will receive one complimentary invitation and admission applicable for the Fall 2005 Network Sales Summit.
· ICE Awards winners also will have opportunities to be recognized by local and national media.

Additional Information on ICE Awards

Digital River - Again ....

Wed, 16 Mar 2005 09:23:20 -0400

I think Dave Collins from Shareware Promotions made the announcement that appropriately reflects the software industry sentiment...

Digital River's Most Recent Acquisition

Digital River Enhances its SoftwarePassport Technology - Will Developers Like This Enhancement?

Wed, 16 Mar 2005 09:00:00 -0400

Digital River Enhances its SoftwarePassport Technology. Looks like Digital River is "plugging" their optional analytics tie-in that caused such commotion in the software industry a month ago.

To meet the needs of Digital River's growing publisher base, the newly enhanced version of SoftwarePassport supports a wider range of software delivery options and economic business models. In addition to using SoftwarePassport technology to handle direct e-commerce purchases, publishers also can use it to manage trialware conversions, subscriptions, the online purchase of licenses, and the activation and licensing of physical products.

Digital River's newly enhanced SoftwarePassport technology now:
-- Offers support for the PC-based gaming market, including compression, trial-by-minutes and customized installers;

-- Integrates with a software analytics tool to help publishers better understand and manage the software installation process, and gather data on how their products are being used by customers;

Complete Article

Laws of Software Development

Tue, 15 Mar 2005 09:00:00 -0400

SixLaws of Software
Most home consumers have all the software they will ever need, and most companies out there already have all the basic technologies they
need to successfully compete. What's a software developer to do? Read the Six Laws of the New Software to find out.
http://changethis.com/12.SixLawsSoftware

The Great Software List

Mon, 14 Mar 2005 09:00:00 -0400

We found a review of FeedForAll software listed on The Great Software List . Not having been previously aware of the site we were quite pleased to find ourselves in such great company. In addition to providing top software selections the site contains some additional tips. The site contains a top 10 list for users and a top 10 list for developers.

Internet Games Festival Winners Announced

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 09:00:00 -0400

The Independent Games Festival in 1998 to encourage innovation in game development and to recognize the best independent game developers. The winners of the seventh annual awards were announced on March 9, 2005. This collection of award winners and finalists from the Open and Web/Downloadable categories demonstrates the quality and diversity of independent games today.

And the winners are ....

Industry Leaders Look To Software's Future

Thu, 10 Mar 2005 09:00:00 -0400

What will the software industry look like in three, five, even 10 years from now? And what customer demands and business trends will drive changes in software products, how they're developed, and the industry that provides them? Here are some thoughts from suppliers and buyers of enterprise software:

Read More

SD West 2005 - Software Developer West Coming Soon!

Wed, 9 Mar 2005 09:00:00 -0400

The SD West curriculum is designed to help you Develop An Advantage by enhancing your expertise in the languages, tools, technologies and trends you need to be successful.

The conference is scheduled for Santa Clara March 14-18, 2005. Additional Details

Softwrap Offers Logistics Solution Powered by SwiftCD

Wed, 9 Mar 2005 09:00:00 -0400

Manufacturing and fulfillment leader SwiftCD today announces that Softwrap, a world leader in digital rights management, will be offering software developers and clients a new and unique logistics solution, powered by SwiftCD's on-demand manufacturing and fulfillment service. Thanks to SwiftCD, Softwrap vendors will have access to a quick, affordable and powerful cross-selling tool that will be available to customers in the ease of just a few mouse clicks.

With this new delivery solution, a purchaser will be able to order a backup copy of the software they purchase on a CD-ROM. Software companies can then include other trials or demos on the disk to be output as desired, with the freedom to change, update or expand menu items or choices at any time. Such physical delivery options give end users the satisfaction of a physical delivery for their purchases, while also giving them the opportunity to review, try out - and purchase - other software titles offered by the same provider.

Additional Details

EU Body Endorses Software Patents Measure

Tue, 8 Mar 2005 09:00:00 -0400

A European Union government body has endorsed a controversial patents bill, handing a victory to large companies with substantial software patent portfolios, such as Microsoft. The directive, voted on Monday by the EU's Council, is slated to be presented to the EU assembly for yet another vote, as the issue promises to drone on for months.

At the last minute, opposition to the measure surfaced from Poland, Denmark, and Portugal, but the vote of the 25-country body overwhelmed the opposition. Open-source interests have opposed the directive, maintaining that it will stifle innovation.

Complete Article

Increase Exposure in Australia and New Zealand

Mon, 7 Mar 2005 07:57:45 -0400

Eye4You is looking for another suite of products to include in their range of software for the Australian & New Zealand market.

They only work on an exclusive basis (ie. eye4you would be the only company offering your software in those 2 countries), and will actively promote and market your products. They are currently only considering Enterprise software (particularly targeting educational institutions and medium / large companies). ie. not home-user or single-licence software!

If interested contact them directly at Eye4You

Break From Posting

Thu, 3 Mar 2005 20:30:58 -0400

I'm traveling and do the tourist thing for the next few days so posting will be light if at all.

Yahoo Introduces Search APIs and Developer Network

Thu, 3 Mar 2005 09:00:00 -0400

Yahoo Inc. plans to introduce today the Yahoo Search Developer Network, an online resource offering developers access to new Web services application programming interfaces (APIs) for Yahoo Search products, along with Overture's existing APIs. Yahoo envisions YSDN as a place where developers can share code, ideas, and applications that extend the company's search technology.

"We've been asked by a lot of third-party developers for these APIs for a while," says Eckert Walther, head of product management for Yahoo Search. "And we've recognized that search has gone from a consumer application to a much broader application platform."

As an example of how the APIs might be used, Walther suggests that a Web site about restaurants in Palo Alto might want to show those restaurants on a map. "You could show that directly with the Yahoo Local search API," he explains. "Or let's say you had a restaurant review site where people could provide quick reviews, and you wanted to supply a spell checker. You could do that using the spell checker API."

Complete Article - Yahoo APIs

Software Marketing News

Tue, 1 Mar 2005 09:00:00 -0400

The March issue of Software Marketing News has been posted. This issue delves into selling on Amazon, publishers and new opportunities available on CNET.

If you know someone who would like to subscribe please have them send a blank email to webmaster@softwaremarketingresource.com with "subscribe" as the subject line.

Software Marketing News tries to keep developers informed about important industry changes. Software marketing resource is an independent voice for developers. We welcome suggestions and feedback on our articles and information

Closer Ties Between Chinese and Indian Developers

Mon, 28 Feb 2005 09:00:00 -0400

According to an article in the Asia Times - "The Chinese and Indian software industries are forging closer ties, as the world's two most populous countries become favoured offshore software outsourcing destinations."

What will this mean to western developers, or even independent developers. It is no surprise that independent developers have a higher likelihood of success from regions where the cost of living is lower. Lets face it they don't need to earn quite as much to live comfortably, but as outsourcing grows increasingly popular independent developers may need to evaluate their market position.

Complete Article

Nominees Announced for the 5th Annual Software Games Developer Choice Awards

Fri, 25 Feb 2005 08:24:51 -0400

The nominee's for IGDA Game Developer Choice Awards have been announced. The nominees include well known retail titles like Half-Life 2 and Grand Theft Auto but very few lesser known names by independent developers. Perhaps next year Indies will fair better.

Imagine.... Software Licensing + E-Commerce + Distribution = Success

Thu, 24 Feb 2005 09:00:00 -0400

The formula for success right? Currently software developers use a combination of solutions to protect, sell and distribute their software. Well a new player has entered the arena. Download.com and Protexis have partnered to provide software developers all three pieces to the equation.

I talked to the folks from CNET and Protexis yesterday and will be writing up a detailed article for March's SMR, but I'm sure the software development community will be a buzz as to what this means.

One thing I'll mention now, that will influence many developers, is that Protexis' e-commerce rate will be 8 or 10% (depending on services selected)! It is sure to shake up the shareware registration services who only provide a piece of the puzzle, or charge higher affiliate rates for their distribution channel.

Stay Tuned!!!

Webcom Publishers of Software Business Magazine Add Two Software Newsletters to Offerings

Wed, 23 Feb 2005 09:00:00 -0400

Software Business Expands Its e-Newsletters for the Software Industry

Two new e-newsletters serving executives and managers in the software industry, have been announced by Webcom Communications, the publisher of Software Business Magazine.

Joining the magazine's flagship e-newsletter, Software Business Executive Report, the new publications bring the number of e-newsletters under the Software Business brand up to three.

- Software Investor will cover financial and investment news of the software industry reporting on mergers and acquisitions, financings, taxation, accounting and financial strategy.

- SLAM: Sales, Licensing, Alliances and Marketing Report will cover news and strategy in all aspects of sales, marketing, product management and promotion for software products and services.

sign up for WebCom's Software Newsletters

Sell Software on Amazon with Great Minds

Tue, 22 Feb 2005 09:00:00 -0400

Selling software on Amazon is not quite as straightforward as it appears. Great Mind Software and Pharos Games (for gaming software) has made it a whole lot easier.

They will list your product in Amazon's inventory assigning it a barcode. Then you are able to sell through Amazon.

Great Mind Software has put together a collection of tips along with a FAQ to help developers starting out. I've recently signed up with them to sell FeedForAll on Amazon and have been pleased with the results.

CNET's Download.com Has Added a Blog Section

Mon, 21 Feb 2005 09:00:00 -0400

Download.com, the popular download site has added a section, where CNET personalities blog.

Amongst the new CNET bloggers are some popular names in shareware circles including Scott Arpajian with a blog about useful software utilities, Kelly Morrison with a blog theme I'm still trying to figure out, and Wayne Cunningham with a blog about spyware.

I'm really excited about Scott's blog in particular, as Scott has always been an advocate for the smaller developers, often assisting them, and listening to their concerns. His blog may mean some really great editorial exposure for some less well known, but deserving applications.

Statistical Information Related to Downloads and Sales of Software Online

Thu, 17 Feb 2005 13:14:26 -0400

Yesterday seemed to be the day for fascinating posts. Brian from MicroISV shared some interesting statistical information with his readers on wednesday. The post was a compilation of information provided by eSellerate and some polls on the MicroISV site. The comments however indicated that the information was useless in increasing sales. Brian followed up with a stellar post that detailed how this information assisted him with increasing software sales.

I think Brian is correct in his assertion that this data can be useful in increasing sales. While there is room for additional data collection I think, the generic information atleasts helps motivate software developers to think about how to conduct an advertising or promotional campaign and maximize sales.

Firm formerly known as Gator looks for credibility

Wed, 16 Feb 2005 09:00:00 -0400

Claria, aka Gator, an adware maker that online publishers once called a "parasite," is now seeking their favor to build a massive Web advertising network to display ads based on Web surfers' behaviors.

The privately held company, which postponed its public offering last year, is launching a new marketing division and advertising service to migrate from hawking its signature pop-up advertisements to selling behaviorally targeted display ads. If it has its way, the ads will appear on publisher pages across the Web, reaching as many as 200 million people.

Complete Article about Gator's Tainted Image

Google and The Golden Ratio

Tue, 15 Feb 2005 09:00:00 -0400

I just read what could possibly be the most intelligent or the most hair brained explanation of Google's antics. First a bit of history.

What is the Golden Ratio?
The golden ratio, or golden section is a number that crops up in nature, and particular beauty and perfection an astonishing number of times. A few facts to give you an idea of what we're talking about here:

Phi is the only number who's square can be produced by simply adding 1
- and who's reciprocal by subtracting 1
- It's found in music, art, nature and science
- It's digits have been calculated to 10 million, and they never repeat.
- It's rumoured that Da Vinci's mona lisa was created using the golden triangle
- Most of those fact were lifted from The Golden Rule

Enough with History, what does it mean to Google and Search Marketers?
We don't know exactly but, with the evident inclusion of LSI/A in the recent Google algorithm shift, many are beginning, as a result of DG's post to suspect that 1.618 may feature strongly in one or many factors of the algo - and as DG pointed out: It's just geeky enough to be true.

Things to play with...
What may be worth experimenting with would for me, include the following, based largely on what better seo minds tell me :)

Incoming Link Text
Hard to do of course but say you're target word be "tractor", using the ~operator to find semantically relevant terms and aiming for the 1.618 ratio would seem reasonable
Outgoing Link Text
Much the same as above, 10 instances of tractor and 6 instances of "farm machinery" and other such terms
Keyword Density
You're gettin the picture now right?
Overall Theme
Possibly a bit out there, this one, but worth thinking about - particularly in terms of titles.

In particular read the follow up post posted by Graywolf on ThreadWatch - a very insightful concept that will make your brain hurt!!!!

SoftScout - New Business Software Resource

Mon, 14 Feb 2005 09:00:00 -0400

I got a note from the folks at SoftScout. SoftScout is a new site defined as a community managed, business software directory. SoftScout aims to provide a comprehensive list of enterprise software solutions, allowing business professionals to locate, compare, and select the best available solution.

If you have a business application sign-up as a vendor

Web Pages that Suck

Thu, 10 Feb 2005 09:00:00 -0400

Vincent Flanders' Web Pages that Suck blog lists the biggest Web design mistakes of 2004. He drew on his other weblog, the Daily Sucker, a blog that showcases current examples of bad design, to come up with 14 of the worst mistakes you can make when designing a website. Here are his top five:

1. "Believing people care about you and your website." People come to your site to have their problems solved. They could care less about you.

2. "A man from Mars can't figure out what your Website is about in less than 4 seconds." If someone can't figure out what you're about within 4 seconds of arriving on your homepage, you've failed.

3. "Mystical belief in the power of Web Standards, Usability and tableless CSS." In short, the tools you use are less important than how the site looks and works.

4. "Using design elements that get in the way of your visitors." He cites splash pages, animations, too much text, too many graphics, etc., as some elements that interrupt a user's experience -- and get in the way of the sale.

5. "Navigational failure." Flanders' says simplicity and consistency are key here. He even cites Seth Godin's weblog as something that fails in this category.

Read more about Web Pages that Suck

Donate Door Prizes to FACUG - The Florida Association of Computer User Groups

Wed, 9 Feb 2005 09:00:00 -0400

I received a request from FACUG - the Florida Association of Computer Users Groups.

Their twelfth annual spring conference will take place March 4 to March 6, 2005 in Kissimmee, Florida. They are looking for software products to publicize. In order to have your products promoted provide complimentary software, hardware, or other products to be displayed and used for door prizes and for the end of
meeting drawing.

The details are as follows:

FACUG's spring conference is the premier regional computer user group event in the country. Over 200 leaders from our 58 member groups (both PC & MAC) are expected to attend. These groups represent over 17,480 opinion leaders in their communities. Their mission is to promote communications between member groups and the computer industry, assist user groups in fulfilling educational and charitable activities, and promote community relations. They are a non-profit corporation (tax ID# 59-3323255) under IRS regulations.

Product support will enable you to advertise your products by having them displayed during the meeting. A listing of conference contributors will be posted on the Web site and linked to your Web site at http://www.facug.org/vendurls.htm . This FACUG Web page displays links to vendors who support computer user groups. Please supply your company name, URL and contact name with an email address to enable us to enter the proper links to your company. We will post your user group specials on our page at
http://www.facug.org/specials.htm .

Product in the form of software, hardware, books, special offers, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Items must be received between February 28th to
March 3rd, 2005 to:

   FACUG Conference
   Attn: Larry Tyler
   %Kissimmee Civic Center
   201 East Dakin Avenue
   Kissimmee, FL 34741-5725

For information about sponsorships contact us at the e-mail address below.

Product support or sponsorship information - contact: Larry Tyler Jr.   or Hewie Poplock email them at facug@webulous.biz

Abbyy's Software Success Story

Tue, 8 Feb 2005 09:00:00 -0400

Dean Tang founded Abbyy USA after his previous company, Newsoft now a subsidiary of UMAX, went public in Taiwan. Abbyy USA was founded 5 years ago and is a fully owned subsidiary of Abbyy Software, a large software development firm in Russia specializing in artificial intelligence in the language field. Abbyy has been active in the industry for 15 years.

Complete Article - Abbyy Software

Special Edition SMR News - All Companies Make Mistakes

Mon, 7 Feb 2005 09:00:00 -0400

Occasionally we are faced with "news" that is deemed important enough to create a special issue of Software Marketing News. This is one of those occasions not because the news is so earth-shattering, but because it is important the developers are informed with facts rather than rumors.

All Companies Make Mistakes
Nearly every company, makes mistakes. In my opinion, once a mistake is discovered, it is how the company handles that mistake is more telling, than the mistake itself.

In this world there are big mistakes and there are little mistakes. Digital River recently collected information related to usage and installation of its SoftwarePassport application, without disclosing the tracking to it's customers. The actual tracking was done by including a UserAx.dll in the recent versions of SoftwarePassport and Armadillo.

Developers obviously have a number of concerns related to the new DLL. I'm hoping this article will separate fact from fiction, and get to the heart of the matter.

I would encourage developers to read it and make their own assessments. - Complete Article - All Companies Make Mistakes

SwiftCD Acquires Certain Assets of Xburn

Fri, 4 Feb 2005 09:00:00 -0400

In a key strategic move within the CD duplication and fulfillment industry, DigitalSwift, the parent company of SwiftCD.com, has acquired certain assets of Los Angeles-based Xburn. The world leader in on-demand dynamic CD/DVD manufacturing and fulfillment, DigitalSwift's acquisition is an important milestone for the company and its popular subsidiary SwiftCD, which continues its trend of rapid expansion in 2005.

Google Sandbox

Fri, 4 Feb 2005 09:00:00 -0400

Before we get too far into an explanation as to what Google's sandbox is, it must be noted that not everyone even agrees that the sandbox exists. The sandbox is actually nothing more than a theory developed to explain what many different SEO experts have witnessed with their listings. Whether or not the sandbox really exists is actually irrelevant when we know that the effects of the sandbox exist.

Google's sandbox is a relatively new filter that appeared to be put in place back in March of 2004. This happened after the widely publicized updates of Austin and Florida, and the implementation of what is known as the Austin update. If you are not sure what those are, there is no need to worry as those updates are now for the most part in the past. The sandbox filter seems to affect nearly all new websites placing them on an initial "probation" status. The effect of this is that new websites may get into Google's SERP's (search engine results pages) relatively quickly and may even perform well for a couple of weeks. When the filter is applied to the new website it is referred to as being put in the "sandbox". The new website will still show in the result pages, but it will not rank well regardless of how much original, well optimized content and regardless of how many quality inbound links the site may have. The filter restrains new websites from having immediate success in the search engine result pages.

Complete Article - Google Sandbox

Open Source Law Center Opens Doors

Wed, 2 Feb 2005 09:00:00 -0400

A $4 million investment made by the Open Source Development Labs has helped create a center to provide free legal support to free and open source software (FOSS) projects.

The legal firm now known as the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) will be run by noted copyright lawyer Eben Moglen from its headquarters in New York, and staffed with two full-time intellectual property lawyers to provide pro bono legal support. Two more IP lawyers are expected to join the center later this year. Moglen said he would aggressively recruit from a talent pool of recent law school graduates. OSDL announced the formation of the spin-off organization during its hosted Enterprise Linux Summit here this week.

Complete Article