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The Business of Software Wiki

A part of Joel on Software, and a companion to the Business of Software discussion group.

MicroISV Reference

Here's a top level listing of BOS Wiki topics of interest to microISVs:

  1. Getting Started
    1. What's it like being a microISV?
  2. Doing Business
    1. Collecting Money
      1. Online Payment Processors
        1. List of Online Payment Processors
      2. Subscriptions and how they work
      3. Handling Purchase Orders / Invoicing
    2. Pricing
      1. Finding initial price
      2. Increasing your product's price 
    3. Legal Niceties
      1. LLC, Corporation, Partnership, Sole Proprietor (US)
      2. Starting a microISV in the UK
      3. What's a EULA, Terms of Service and other legal mumbo jumbo
      4. VAT and Sales Tax
    4. Alternative Business Models
      1. Working with Free or Open Source Software
        1. (Can you make money with it?)
    5. Resources for MicroISVs
        1. Partnering with Microsoft
  3. Developing (no flame wars please!)
    1. Desktop Development Resources
      1. Windows
      2. Mac
    2. Web Development Resources
      1. .php
      2. ruby on rails
      3. Python (TurboGears / Pylons / Django / Zope)
      4. ASP .NET
      5. Silverlight
      6. Adobe Flash
      7. JavaScript
      8. Google Web Toolkit
      9. ActiveGrid visual builder for Python/Java (www.activegrid.com)
      10. Testing for multiple browsers. (http://browsershots.org/)
    3. The Microsoft Platform (all-up)
    4. Other Mobile Platforms
      1. Palm/Garnet OS
      2. Symbian
    5. Outsourcing
    6. Software Registration/Protection
    7. Globalization and Localization (Globalisation and Localisation)
  4. You are the infrastructure
    1. What is Source Control and why do you need it?
    2. Continous Integration is your friend
    3. Of Servers, Co-Hos, Racks Farms and more.
  5. Marketing your microISV
    1. What is Marketing?
    2. What is PR?
    3. What is Selling?
    4. Google Adwords and your company
    5. Creating your microISV Web Site - Resources and Advice
    6. Blogging for microISVs
    7. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for microISVs
    8. Running Product Promotions.
  6. You in Pictures
    1. Why your site needs at least decent graphics
    2. Finding and working with a graphic artist
    3. What is a logo and do you need one?
  7. You've reached Tech Support
      1. How to set up your microISV Tech Support
  8. Resources for microISVs
    1. Blogs
    2. Web Sites 
    3. Podcasts
    4. Books
    5. Articles & Interviews
    6. Free PAD Tools 
  9. The Productive microISV