It's that time of the year again: Conference season. I just returned from SWRUS-Kiev and missed this year's ISDEF. But not to worry, the greatest event of all is still coming up on November 5-6 in Brussels. My favorite event is called ESWC, short for European Shareware Conference. It was there that I was first introduced into the inner circles of the shareware community several years ago, when the conference was being held in Cologne. From the meetings grew friendships for life, but also great business opportunities.
This year's event will be extra special. The sessions schedule looks impressive. The location, Sofitel Astoria in the heart of Brussels, is great. And this year, for the first time, a classical concert is included, with music from Dvorak and bruch. If you don't like classical music, don't worry: The traditional height of ESWC consists of the parties in the evening. This year, there is also an excursion in Brussels, organized by Digital River.
If you are an independent developer, or are in any way involved in software developing and marketing by small companies, this event is not to be missed.
You can sign up right here.
I always think of the keynote as the highlight of Tech*ed, because it shows Microsoft's vision for the future.
Last year, the keynote was very interesting. But this year there wasn't much to it, although the show was great. Here are some pictures:
An interesting moment was when Microsoft was showcasing a Sun system. One of the computers was running Solaris, another one was running Windows. They were demonstrating that they can remotely control all kinds of computers, including Sun systems, and controll the boot process, bios, etc. Later today will be the opening reception at the exhibition, so we will see lots of people here.
More tomorrow, and more pictures later today at
Shareware Blogs.
If you are at TechEd Amsterdam, be sure to come say hi at the shareware stand.
Like I told you yesterday, I arrived in Amsterdam for TechEd, where I will be at the shareware stand.. During the time I'm here, I will try to report daily in two blogs: The one here, which has mostly readers interested in Microsoft, and the one at
SharewareBlogs, with readers mostly interested in shareware marketing.
Of course, you are bree to read both of them.
To be honest, nothing much happened today, as most attendees are not here yet. but I already got an impression.
Just like last year, there is an impressive communications network. Each attendee has his own email account and phone number. From the 100 computers that have a phone connected to them, you can use voice over IP phonecalls worldwide for free. I'm not talking about calling other computers, but about making phonecalls to any real phones around the world. Every attendee also has a local phone number that follows the attendees as they log on to different computers. what I have mostly seen today is of course the exhibition hall. I made some pictures and resized them with
Images: In Context, so here they are:
You can see images of the shareware stand in
my other blog.
Warning: This long rant contains offensive language. Don't read if you are under 18.
So I arrived in Amsterdam for Tech*Ed. Just like all normal people when they are traveling, the first thing I would like to do is check my email.
And, of course, I'm curious to see if I made any sales with the
new ebook that I put online just before leaving.
The Netherlands is one of the top countries for internet access, so this could not really be a problem. Or could it? I went to the hotel lobby and asked if they had internet access in the hotel. Sure, they had one computer with internet access. Only 5 euro per 15 min or 10 euro per 45 min. But unfortunately it was just not working right now. Maybe I can come back later?
Some time later, I come back, and the very friendly hotel host will try to get it working. I wait a bit while he is helping clients check in, but by the time he conmes back to me, unfortunately someone else asked to use the computer. So can I wait a bit until they are finished?
But I have a better idea. I ask him to call a taxi to take me to an internet cafe.
The taxi will be there in just 15 min. So I have some time to get a coffee in the bar and be blown away when finding out what they charge for that.
So only 20 min. later the taxi is there already. I ask him to take m,e to an internet cafe that's open this late. It'saround midnight already.
The taxi driver calls the office to ask if they know of such a place and receives instructions. We drive to the place, just 15 min. away, and see that it's closed.
Not to worry, there are other places which might be open. He looks in an address book, calls the office again, and off we go, driving through the streets of Amsterdam past every closed internet cafe there is.
"You see, sir, it's sunday evening, so everything closes a bit earlier." Until, finally, one coffee shop with internet access appears to be open.
I get out of the taxi fast and walk into the place. If I can use the internet? "Sorry sir but we are closed."
So I walk down the street to see another internet cafe just close the doors.
So I walk around, looking for all streets that seem busy. I walk into an empty put, with no clients but apperantly open, and ask the two bartenders if they know of any place with internet access.
One of the bartenders understands exactly what I am looking for and sends me back to the place where the taxi driver first took me.
So I continue walking around, looking for busy streets. One girl in the street wants me to give her some coins, which I refuse. After insisting a bit, she asks: "Do nyou want a blowjob?". When I refuse even this offer, she finally gives up.
And then, finally, I see this place which has a sign "Internet". The place looks far from empty, so I'm sure I got lucky this time.
I ask the bartender if I could please use the internet? "Sorry sir, but we are closing in 10 min. You can't use the internet now."
So I ask if she could give me a coffee instead?
"Sorry sir, but I can't give you a coffee. All you can get is some weed. There in the back."
What can one do? get a pizza, and take a taxi back to the hotel.
The hotel clerck asks if I found something. Nope. If I want to try again at the hotel? Yes please. "Well someone else is using the internet now, if you could just wait a little bit." A half hour later I try again. Looks like the computer is being used again, but they are just playing games, and internet has precedence. So I canm finally proceed.
But, unfortunately, the server just went down. Let me reboot... No, doesn't help, sorry.
I want to give it one last try, another half hour later. I wait 5 minutes for the lift to take me down, then decide to give up and take the stairs. Oly 4 stages down, and walking is sooooo much faster.
No need to tell you that it doesn't work right now, but he will try to ge it to work and if that doesn't work he will let me use the computer at the desk. I told you, this guy is really friendly and helpful.
And then, finally, there it is! HJere I am, sitting at a computer, typing a blog entry! You can imagine how many popups I'm getting here from all types of spyware, and one piece of spyware even complained that it had been uninstalled, probably without my consent.
But it actually works!
Now let's just hope that it holds up until after I press the "post" button...
I have just launched a new web site:
http://sharewareblogs.com
The web site attempts to be the single source of news from the shareware world, and to bring more attention to shareware.
For so long, the tech news has been dominated by slashdot and the likes, who don't like shareware all too much. Because of this shareware never got the attention it deserves.
All of this will change right now.
Hope to see all of you posting there. Right now members are approved automatically, so you can just sign up and start posting immediately.
You can also host your blog on the site. Or if you already have a blog, or any other RSS feed, it can be aggregated in the “shareware news” section.
Hope you will all enjoy it!
The 4th edition of ESWC (European Shareware Conference)has just finished. It was the third edition I attended, having missed only the very first one.
After 3 years in Cologne, the location has changed this year. The new location, Strasbourg, was an excellent choice. For me it is also still within the distange range that I can drive to, which allows me to take lots of stuff and presents for friends. This is a tradition I started already last year, and I hope that by next year some others will follow my example. This could give a whole new dimension to the conference.
On friday evening there were already lots of people present for the welcome reception. As always, there were many familiar faces.
Saturday morning I had to get up very early to get to the conference before the registrations started. I didn't succeed in that, and the result was that the earliest registrants didn't get the Alpha ZIP notepad and pen. Too bad and completely my fault.
The sessions started off, and almost everyone seemed to attend them. This is a good sign.
There was a buffet for lunch, and after that there were more sessions. I was in a panel about application development myself, and surprised myself by having more interesting things to say than I thought. Maybe I should write some articles about the topics that came up, or have a full session on those topics next year.
In the evening was the Digital River event "four corners of the world", with food and games from four parts of the world. There was a great atmosphere. Everyone seemed happy, no struggles at all, nobody got really drunk, probably one of the best parties I ever attended at such conferences.
I held a private competition with Sandra from Lobstersoft, who is an advanced Chinese eater. She invited me in a chopstick game, and after first telling me how to hold the sticks and then beating me mercilessly, she said she was amazed that I was so good. Being a good sport, she gave me a second chance and waited for me to finish before finishing herself.
But I could soon take revenge in a game with Russian puppets, where I beat her even more mercilessly.
After that I joined Mike Dulin in giving advise for making cooking software a success. I had the feeling we were really helping.
I finally followed the shareit girls to a place that was not so fantastic after all, left early and took a few hours of sleep.
Sunday morning was another early day. Everyone looked particularly sleepy now. But we had to go on of course. The earliest session didn't get the audience it deserved because many were still sleeping. But the people didn't stay away for long, and soon everything went great again.
After lunch you would expect everyone to start thinking about leaving, but I was surprised to see that the very last sessions still had a big audience that was very attentive.
After the wrap up we went for a drink and for dinner, and then some of us found a pub where we had so much fun. There were some new faces with us, but by this time they already felt like experienced conference-goers to me.
The reason for not being very inspired right now is just that I stayed there too long and didn't get enough sleep for all these days in a row.
Today I did some sightseeing in Strasbourg, and saw the clock inside the cathedral, but didn't succeed in entering the European Parliament. I think I will make it an early night and drive back home in the morning.
To all who were here this year: Hope to see you again next year. It was great to see you all.
To all who were not here: You missed something, and hopefully you will do better next year.
Guest entry by Marck Pearlstone
Here is a short overview of the sessions held on the ESWC in Strasbourg this weekend.
Saturday, November 7, 2004
Welcome by ...
Didn't happen - the Mayor was busy with a council vote and
couldn't get away
Bits and Pixels - Increase your shareware revenues by focusing on
what's important
Mark-Jan Harte provided some clear insights into how to manage
a product life-cycle in 3 major stages - Development, Growth
and Maturity
A Global Solution for a Global Economy
Brant Pallazza explained clearly the ethos behind Digital
River's recent acquisition of Element5 and how the two
businesses are a perfect and complementary fit.
He assured us that DR are not "The Borg", intent only on
assimilation of the entire industry, however it may look from
the outside.
Panel #1: Publicity and Promotion
Dave Collins
Trevor Black
Dirk Paessler
Bob Gibson
This was a very interesting Q&A panel session with great input
from the membership. Nice to see Tucows represented here!
Securing Your Online Business Success Using Network Monitoring
Dirk Passler explained how important it is to monitor your
online network in order not to lose valuable customers. He went
into some technical detail about effective monitoring tools.
Writing documentation using DocBook
This session, presented by Sylvain Perchaud, was very
informative if a little hard to follow. He explained the
DocBook standard, how it relates to XML and to writing
documentation
Writing Help that Gets Read
This session was a highlight of the conference. Tim Green was
charming, amusing and very informative, guiding us through the
dos and don'ts of writing good help documentation. HIs
presention is a must-have download, full of humour and
countless tips and hints.
Help for Shareware -- Technical
Alex Halser gave us a fairly comprehensive view of the
technical side of using calls to help, with context and
sensitivity and keyword handling techniques.
Panel #2: Application Development
Marck Pearlstone
Henk Devos
Alwin Hoojerdijk
Chris Breeze
Hajo Kirchhoff, www.litwindow.com
Search engine success - a hands-on guide to being found
A clear and comprehensive session from Dave Collins - well
received and the Q&A session at the end didn't want to stop.
Sunday, November 8, 2004
Tracking where your sales come from.
A technical look at implementing customer tracking systems by
Adrian Grigore of Lobstersoft.
Web log analysis - Going for Gold!
Dave Collins on his favourite subject!
Google Adwords
This Dave Collins session was delivered to a packed room and,
as is becoming pretty normal for a DC session, overran due to
the many, MANY questions.
Panel #3: Commercial issues
Thanks to Brant Pallazza (Digital River) and Steve Kiene
(eSellerate) for fielding the (eventually) many questions from
the floor.
What's new in .NET 2.0 and Visual Studio 2005?
Dr. Frank Prengel demonstrated many programming techniques and
enhancements in the MS language family surround the new .NET
stuff for VS 2005 with many demonstrations and question /
answer breaks.
Panel #4: Customer Relationships
An interesting discussion of how best to handle customer
support issues, touching on email automation and template
systems, automatic key-reissue web pages and support ticket
systems
Marck Pearlstone
Sandra Erb
Alwin Hoojerdijk
Peter van Hove
Digital Rights Management and Software Protection -
Rudiger Krugler - WIBU systems talked in depth about Code Meter
and the very generous gift of a 256mb 'CM' stick (USB flash
drive) that was given to all attendees.
Richard Wienberg - Softwrap
Securing your Online Business
Steve Kiene
This was a highly technical topic that focused on the weak
points involved in an online presence and how to keep them from
buckling under the strain of modern worm, virus and hacker
attacks.
Affiliate Marketing Today
Digital River outlined the current state-of-the art in
affiliate systems and how to take advantage of them.
Last weekend, Microsoft surprised many people in the shareware world by putting the following text on their very home page in huge letters:
TRY BEFORE YOU BUY
This is the very same mantra that shareware authors have been using for a long time.
This text was then linked to a section of the web site where trial versions of Microsoft products can be downloaded.
By today the ad was already replaced by a different ad, but still, the precedent is there:
Microsoft is taking shareware marketing for their own products seriously.
This trend comes absolutely not as a surprise.
Microsoft has been using shareware marketing techniques for a long time.
For a long time they have been making many of their products available as trial versions.
But whereas in the past they mostly made trial versions available on CD, they now seem to be shifting much more to offering trial versions as downloads on the internet.
As an aside, it is also interesting which new marketing technique Microsoft is using for their Visual Studio 2005: They will make very cheap licenses available for students, in the hope that these students will later, once graduated, be hooked and continue to use Microsoft products. A technique I remember very well from my student job at a company that was marketing printed magazines the same way.
Let's hope Microsoft will soon be an active member of the shareware community.
Of course, being at a shareware conference in Russia is the ideal way
to find out what is going on in the Russian marketplace.
There are really 2 aspects to this: What we can buy from Russia
(supply) and what we can sell in Russia (demand).
Supply
I already learned last year that the shareware world is very
different in Russia from Western Europe and the US.
In Western Europe and the US, shareware is developed by single people,
sometimes as a hobby, or by very small companies with maybe 2 or 3
employees. There are of course exceptions, but this is a general
rule.
In Russia, shareware is big business. The normal size of the companies
is a lot bigger. You could say that 10 employees would be a typical
number, while it can be much more.
These companies are also doing incredibly good: One person told me that
their company was making 300,000 sales per year. At 30$/license, that
means they make almost 10 million dollar in sales per year!
In Europe and the US, we expect people to go to shareware
conferences out of their own interest.
In Russia, this is different: People go there because their boss pays
them to do so.
Outsourcing
One particularly interesting topic that many people want to know about
is outsourcing in Russia. I may need to write a separate entry about
that, but will say a few words about it here.
Russia is probably the number 2 outsourcing country in the world, after
India.
In Russia, you will almost certainly get better quality.
But, Russia as a low wages country seems to be a thing of the past.
You may still find low wages in small towns, but the serious companies
in big cities (Moscow, Novosibirsk) will ask wages that are almost as
high as in the West. Remember that these cities are also expensive to
live in, and that prices are also similar to prices in the West.
If you are looking for low wages outsourcing these days, and don't want
to go to countries like India, you might want to go to the other former
USSR countries. I heard the lowest prices ever quoted by a Kazachstan
company that was recommended to me by a current client of theirs.
Demand
According to the latest BSA study,
Russia is the number 5 country for pirated software, and 87% of
software used in Russia is illegal.
There are only 4 countries
doing worse, with China, Vietnam and Ukraine having over 90% illegal
software.
Because of this, many people think the Russian market is not worthwhile
and ignore it completely.
But there is another side to the story.
First of all, the Russian legislation on intellectual property rights
has been dramatically changed, and using illegal software is now taken
seriously. There are also organisations such as Russian Shield trying
to enforce intellectual property rights on software. Because of this,
the situation has improved very much and will continue to improve.
But let's look at it a different way. Today 13% of software in Russia
is legal, and this is increasing. I was told that today, Russia is the
second largest market for software in he world, preceded only by the
US. I don't know how accurate this number is and have my serious
doubts, but it is probably true for the people who told me this.
If you are among those who are neglecting the Russian market, now is
the time to think about making a change.
This is also very clear from the success of the Russian registration
service SoftKey.
Sharon Housley had a very
interesting session about networking, of which I unfortunately missed
the start.
For clarity: When we talk about networking in a shareware conference
context, we are talking about meeting people, not about connecting
computers to each other.
This is what these conferences are all about for me.
There were of course the many familiar faces of people who have
known each other for years and have been traveling around the world together for all this time. It is always so great to meet you guys again!
There are also always some people that you have known for a long
time by email, but meet for the first time. This is always very
interesting.
This year, for me, the above-mentioned Sharon Housley was one of
those.
But I also met my major competitors from Shell+ for the first time.
This was quite a surprise! I'm happy to have met them, and would have
loved to hang out with them more.
Then there are also the people you have heard about professionally,
but never been in touch with. Let's call them the
"celebrities".
And the last group consists of people you have never heard about,
but who are so great that you are lucky to meet them.
Ethics of networking
You might think that networking on shareware conferences is purely
business directed, and that people are just pretending to be friends
for business purposed.
Fortunately, in my experience, this is not the case.
You will usually see that competitors are hanging out together, and
that people are hanging out together without any business interests at
all.
I think I have many friends in the shareware world, and that they
are true friends.. And so do all of us.
This being said, it is of course obvious that it is important in
business to know many people.
And like Sharon pointed out in the session, nobody will ever be offended if you ask
them to do business.
You can usually also tell from the conferences who is doing business
with whom: I think it is only normal to be friendly with the people you
are working with.
I can say that there are several people whom I am working with
because I met them on shareware conferences. But I have never felt that
I was using them, or that they were using me. The friendships are too
important for that.
I had lots of fun times with Mike Burda from eSellerate on the ISDEF
conference.
Both he and I have been learning some Russian, but from a course that
takes a different point of view.
Mike has been studying Russian from a book, accompanied with audio
tapes, while my course consisted only of audio tapes, but much more of
them.
The result of my course is that I know only a very little bit of
Russian, but can pronounce what I know just like a real Russian, with
impressive fluency. Russians who hear me say the few things that I know
think that my Russian is very good, while it is not. They answer back
in Russian and I don't understand a word of it.
There was even a Russian woman who proposed that I would translate all
her correspondence for her.
The result of Mike's course is that he has a much more profound
knowledge of Russian, while giving the impression that his Russian is
very poor. He knows how to read and write Russian, which I don't know
at all. He knows more words than me, has a better understanding of
grammar, and so on. But he never practiced really speaking the
language, which is what I have done.
If we could just combine the 2 skills, the result would be almost
perfect Russian.
But I don't think I will have the patience to do what Mike has done.
Maybe Mike will have the patience to do what I have done, and in that
case by next year his Russian will be perfect.
On saturday evening, several Russian people, including Constantin from
Registry First
Aid, were giving Mike and me Russian lessons.
Mike was consistently saying "da" to everything.
This whole thing, vodka and champagne in hand, was both fun and interesting,
because we had the experts to ask any question.
But the Russians were most impressed when I knew how to say
"Let's Party!" in Russian.
Da!
After a few days of sightseeing in Moscow, together with Mike Dulin, including the mandatory Red Square and Kremlin, but also with the luck of getting a seat in the Balsjoj Theatre for the world class performance of
Spartacus, I arrived in the Holiday Inn for ISDEF on thursday morning, several hours before the conference started.
There were many familiar faces, but also many new faces, and some
familiar ones missing.
By the time it finished and I headed home again yesterday evening, it had been quite an experience again: The sessions, the networking, the partying until the morning, and especially this atmosphere of a very close group of people who are there for each other. Friendships for live are born on places like this.
There was an internet connection, but it was not very reliable, and
many times when I tried to get online it wasn't working. Because of
that I let go of my plans to comment on the conference in my blog while it was still going on and instead hurried to do the things that
couldn't wait.
So now I have so many things to talk about.
I will be writing short entries on specific aspects of the conference
during the coming few days.
In the mean time I want to refer you to the 2 prominent bloggers on the subject: Sharon
Housley and Dave
Collins.