Association of Software Professionals

The May ASPects is available for ASP members now. Al Harberg has explained the first half of his core tips for press release success for microISVs. Danile Heuman talks about getting into Office apps early. And there is industry news, trade events, and more.

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ASPects, May 2013
ISVCon Speakers Announced for Reno
by Gianfranco Berardi

I’m in the middle of reading The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander. It’s a short and enjoyable book, filled with anecdotes and practices on living a life of possibility as opposed to one of scarcity…. (page 1)

Trade Show Calendar
ISVCon, September 27-29, 2013 (page 2)

The Sixteen Keys to microISV Press Release Success, Part I
by Al Harberg
You can increase your software sales by sending a well-written press release to editors and bloggers. But emailing a press release that’s badly written won’t get your cash register ringing. In my 29-year career of writing and distributing press releases for software developers, I’ve learned a lot about what the editors are looking for. Here are the most important tips and tricks that I’ve learned…(page 3)

ASP News
2013 budget (pages 4-7)

Apps for Office: A New Frontier
by Daniel Heuman
What made the birth of the iPhone so important for ISVs? A new technology? A new way of accessing the internet? A platform available around the world with apps verified by a tech giant? It was probably a combination of all these factors, so it’s significant that Microsoft has re-created that for Office 2013.
   If you haven’t heard of apps for Office, they’re worth understanding. Built into the Office 2013 ribbon is an option to ‘Insert Apps for Office’. It links directly to the MS Office store where you can download apps… (page 7)

ASP Member News
Jarte – Touchable Alternative in Word Processing (page 8 )
New Book Illuminates Candelas, Lumens, and Lux (page 8 )
Write and Publish Online User Manuals with Manula (page 8 )

News & Press Corner
Amazon Expands Global App Distribution to Nearly 200 Countries (page 10)
Embarcadero Technologies Unveils Multi-Device, True Native App Development Suite (page 10)
FTC Seeks Input on Privacy and Security Implications of the Internet of Things (page 10)
Symantec Internet Security Threat Report Reveals Increase in Cyberespionage (page 11)
AnDevCon $300 Discount Expires Friday, May 10th (page 11)

Jerry Stern ASPects Newsletter

The April ASPects is available for ASP members today. There are articles about defining a market for your software, finding a partner, and modeling computer security on swiss cheese, and more.

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ASPects, April 2013
Having Purpose in Business, in Life, and in Your ASP
by Gianfranco Berardi
A symphony is an intricately detailed piece of design. It doesn’t work if a violinist can show up halfway through and play any random series of notes. It doesn’t work if the conductor decides to take the night off. It doesn’t work if there isn’t music written in front of everyone that is cohesive and aligned… (page 1)

Trade Show Calendar
ISVCon, September 27-29, 2013 (page 2)

Help Prospects Buy Your Software
by Al Harberg
Consumers know that they have choices. But they don’t know how to decide. So says Sergio Zyman in his excellent book The End of Marketing As We Know It. Zyman says that we should help consumers decide. While Zyman’s experience is in selling Coca-Cola and not software, his advice would be to help prospects decide by defining ourselves, by defining our competitors, and by positioning ourselves in the software marketplace. (page 3)

Growing your mISV by growing your team
by Jiri Novotny
I think that the two things limiting growth of mISVs the most are insufficient focus on marketing and fear/reluctance to get a business partner (co-founder) or hire the first employee and then continue growing the team from there…. (page 5)

Swiss Cheese for Advanced Windows Security
by Jerry Stern
You can’t function when your computers are down, either down at my repair bench for a cleanup, or in slowdown mode, infected, phoning home with your account numbers, or bogged down sending out SPAM for a bot farmer. And security suites are slowdowns of another variety. There has to be a way for an advanced user to keep computers both fast and safe. Here’s how, but this approach is not for beginners…. (page 6)

Your Tiny Software Marketplace
by Al Harberg
There is no software marketplace. What we call the software marketplace is made up of thousands of tiny niches, each with its own issues and problems. It’s not always possible to take good advice from a microISV in one marketing niche, and apply this wisdom to a different part of the software development industry…. (page 9)

ASP Member News
Aha-Soft Releases Quality App Bar Icon Pack for the Windows 8 (page 9)

News & Press Corner
Adobe and BSA Urge Congress to Support Software Innovation by Improving Patent Quality and Curbing Opportunistic Litigation (page 10)
SIIA Says U.S. Businesses Should Register with ICANN Trademark Clearinghouse to Protect Themselves from Intellectual Property Theft (page 11)
Google to Pay $7 Million Settlement over Street View (page 11)

Jerry Stern ASPects Newsletter

The March ASPects is available now, for ASP members. This month’s articles cover productivity, social media marketing, and writing skills for mISVs

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Welcome, Educational Software Cooperative Members!
by Gianfranco Berardi
Members of the Educational Software Cooperative, a non-profit trade association dedicated to the educational software ecosystem, recently voted at a special meeting to dissolve the organization. As part of the decision, they also voted to provide all ESC members with one-year memberships in the ASP… (page 1)

How Important Is the ASP to You?
by Gianfranco Berardi
When you became an ASP member, you joined for 52 weeks worth of access to the discussion groups with like-minded business owners, developers, and publishers. You signed up for12 months worth of access to ASPects, exclusive discounts and offerings, and a number of other benefits, all of which are available to you for less than $2 per week. But do you get the most out of your membership? (page 1)

Trade Show Calendar
ISVCon, September 27-29, 2013 (page 2)

Increasing Your Personal Productivity as a mISV

by Jiri Novotny

If you run a business, there is a direct correlation between your productivity and the success of your business. I define productivity as creating valuable output, which grows your business. And since “valuable output” is always a subjective thing, the value is ultimately decided by your customers. Your effort is either valuable to them and they give you money, or it is not–and they won’t… (page 4)

Book Review: The Social Media Marketing Book
by Gianfranco Berardi
While I am on Twitter (@GBGames), Facebook, and Google+, and use these accounts regularly, I could stand to figure out how to better leverage these services to grow an audience and sell more. I find that no matter how well versed you might be with a particular tool, it’s entirely possible you are muddling through using some aspect of it. You could always learn about better and more effective ways to use it. So when I saw The Social Media Marketing Book by Dan Zarrella on a bookshelf, I picked it up. (page 6)

Writers: Know Your Audience
by Al Harberg

“Write as though you were addressing someone whose opinion you value,” said Patricia T. O’Conner in her book Words Fail Me – What Everyone Who Writes Should Know About Writing. O’Conner urges writers to know the people whom we want to read their sales presentation. Identify your audience. Determine the correct vocabulary, tone, sentence structure, and imagery that you’ll need to use to communicate effectively with your audience. Learn their level of sophistication, their likes and dislikes, and their demographic and psychographic attributes. (page 7)

ISVCon 2013: Call for Speakers

(page 9)

PAD 4 Frequently-Asked Questions, Part II

(page 10)

News & Press Corner

HS Launches National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies (page 11)

ASP Member News

Why Rent a Cloud Server When You Can Own One? (page 11)

Healthy Computing with Stretch Break Ergonomic Software (page 11)

Jerry Stern ASPects Newsletter

The February ASPects is available for ASP members today. There’s submission help for PAD 4.0, tips on creating web pages that adjust to the browser size for tablets and smart phones, marketing help, and more.

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ASPects, February 2013
You Look Like Volunteer Material
by Gianfranco Berardi
Hello, ASP Member! As someone who probably wants to make a name for yourself, you might be wondering, “Self, how can I make a splash in my industry?”
The answer is contribution (page 1)

Last Chance to Save: ISVCon 2013 Early Bird Registration Ends February 28
by Gianfranco Berardi
Don’t wait too long to register for ISVCon 2013.
After February 28, the Early Bird discount on registration ends, and you’ll miss out on potentially hundreds in savings. ISVCon 2013 will run from September 27 – 29 in Reno, Nevada at the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa. Register now at http://www.isvcon.org/ … (page 1)

Trade Show Calendar
ISVCon, September 27-29, 2013 (page 2)

ASP News
2013 Chair, officers, 2013 Budget Resolution, 4th Qtr Report (page 3)

The Most Common and Frequent Errors Identified by the AppVisor PAD Review Team
by Joel Diamond
After nearly 750 PAD files submitted under the PAD v4.0 Specification, we have created a list of the errors found most often. PAD 4.0 files can be created, or upgraded from older versions, online only, at http://publisher.appvisor.com… (page 4)

Frequently Asked Questions: PAD Certification
What is the PAD Repository?… (page 4)

Categorizing your Software
by Al Harberg
Software buyers sort applications by category. And positioning is all about the location of your product in prospects’ minds. As you start to design your next application, consider how you want prospective buyers to think about your new program. By designing your application with your market positioning in mind, you’ll have a much easier time selling your new product to your target audience… (page 7)

Responsive Web Design
by Jan Prichystal
As the technology progresses, it brings not only more opportunities, but also new issues that needs to be dealt with. Just a few years ago, you could be almost sure your users would be accessing your web site from their desktops. Not anymore. Smartphones and tablet computers have become more accessible to the public than ever. Tablet computer sales doubled in 2012 and the trend will most likely continue in the upcoming years. That takes us from browsers-related issues to a new one: our websites must be ready to be viewed on different devices with different resolutions and aspect ratios. Responsive web design takes this into account and introduces solutions for these problems… (page 8 )

Design a Game With Me, Part 3: Play It And Tell Me What You Think
by Gianfranco Berardi
In the previous two articles, we took a standard deck of cards and created a casual game that eventually evolved to accommodate two players. Of course, games are meant to be played by others, and it is hard to know how other people will receive your game until you actually put it in front of them. It is only through play-testing that you can hope to fully understand how the game will be received.
Is it easy to understand the rules, or are they incomplete, vague, and convoluted?.. (page 10)

ASP Member News
AceReader Elite: Intuitive, Feature-Rich Speed Reading Software (page 12)
TaskMerlin: Automated Gantt Charts for a Complete Project Management Solution(page 12)
SnappyFax: Full-featured Fax Server Software for Windows (page 12)

Jerry Stern ASPects Newsletter

The January issue of ASPects is available now to our members. This month, Gianfranco Berardi continues his series on game design. Al Harberg discusses how financial controls work for microISVs, and Jiri Novotny suggests using eBooks as a sales tool. Over 25 years of ASPects issues are available in the back-issue archives for members of the Association of Software Professionals.

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Happy New Year! Looking Forward to 2013
by Gianfranco Berardi
2012 passed us by and the world hasn’t ended. Onward to 2013!
The end of one year and the beginning of a new one is always a good time to take a momentto think about our progress… (page 1)

ISVCon News: 2012 Videos, 2013 Early Bird Savings
by Gianfranco Berardi
Last year’s ISVCon, the new Software Industry Conference (SIC), was well-received, and this year’s conference is looking to be even better. Once again held in Reno, Nevada, the Biggest Little City in the World, ISVCon 2013 will run from September 27 – 29, and registration is open now at http://www.isvcon.org/… (page 1)

Trade Show Calendar
ISVCon, September 26-29, 2013 (page 2)

ASP News
Annual Meeting Voting Results (page 3)

PAD 4 Frequently-Asked Questions, Part I
What does PAD stand for?
Why do authors need PAD?
Why should vendors and webmasters support PAD?  (page 4)

mISVs and E-books: Are You Missing Enormous Opportunities?
by Jiri Novotny
I think that e-books are the perfect digital goods. In fact, I think that selling e-books is better than selling software… (page 5)

Marketing Budgets and Financial Controls
by Al Harberg
Of all the financial controls that software developers use to regulate their microISV companies, the most abused one is the marketing budget.
Too many lazy marketers create their marketing budget first, and then create their marketing goals and objectives second–if at all. So says Mark Stevens, the author of the book Your Marketing Sucks. And while Stevens wasn’t specifically talking about independent software developers, we see this problem quite a bit in the software development industry.. (page 7)

Design a Game With ME, Part 2: Double the Players, Double the Fun?
by Gianfranco Berardi
Last time, we walked through the initial design steps of a new card game. Up until now it has been a single-player game, but I mentioned that the design evolved to accommodate two players. This article will explore that evolution… (page 8 )

ASP Member News
High-Logic B.V.’s MainType Wins 2012 Epsilon Award for Software Excellence (page 10)

News and Press Corner
European Software Conference: Venice in November (page 10)
FTC Strengthens Kids’ Privacy, COPPA Rule Updates (page 11)
Embarcadero Rolls Out New Multi-Device C++ Developer Platform (page 11)
INTERPOL and NEC Sign Partnership Agreement To Enhance Cyber Security (page 11)

Jerry Stern ASPects Newsletter

Each month, members of the ASP receive ASPects, the monthly newsletter of the ASP, including official news, how-to articles, and industry news. The December issue is available now, and 25 years of back issues are in the members’ web site.

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December 2012, Volume 25, No. 12

2012 Annual Meeting Has Started

by Gianfranco Berardi

This is an official notice of the Annual Membership Meeting, as required by section 3.12 of the bylaws. The Annual Membership Meeting of the Association of Software Professionals has begun with the discussion period started on Saturday, November 24, 2012, at 12:01 AM Eastern US Time…(page 1)

Why I’m Still an ASP Member

by Gianfranco Berardi

At the end of my college years, I had been absorbing all I could about game development in my spare time, and I thought it would be ideal if I managed to get a job working for a company such as Nintendo, Konami, or Midway…
A couple of years ago, I finally made the leap to run my business full-time… (page 1)

Trade Show Calendar
ISVCon, September 26-29, 2013 (page 2)

ASP Member News
FlowHeater Designer v. 2.5 (page 3)

Sell More Software by Writing Better
by Al Harberg
Whether you’re writing your website’s sales presentation, a posting for your blog, a press release about your new software, or a whitepaper for your content library, you need to sell your ideas if you want to sell your software…
Every word has to advance your argument, and tell your story well. You have to look at every word, and ask if it’s advancing the message. Your job is to keep readers reading…. (page 4)

Design a Game With Me
by Gianfranco Berardi
One evening I found myself with a pack of cards and nothing else to do. I decided to make a simple game. My initial goal was to make a single-player card game, but it eventually evolved into a two-player game. By documenting the earlier design iterations, I hope to give you insight into what is involved in the game design process… (page 5)

Announcing the Release of v4.0 of the PAD Specification
by Joel Diamond
The ASP PAD Committee is pleased to announce the first major upgrade of the PAD Specification to 4.0. This upgrade entails more than just modifications and additions to the classic field content from prior versions of the specification, v 3.11. All former PAD tools, both ASP and third-party authored, are being replaced with a central web-based platform. We hope these significant investments in the PAD platform will benefit the entire commercial software community and especially the customers of our software that we distribute and promote online… (page 7)

News & Press Corner
Federal Trade Commission, Department of Justice to Hold Workshop on Patent Assertion Entity Activities (page 8)

Visual Studio Toolbox Control Implementation
by Libor Tinka
This tutorial is intended for developers who would like to distribute their WPF or WinForms controls and automatically put
them into Visual Studio Toolbox during installation.
I struggled with Toolbox integration earlier because there are several possible approaches (harder to decide between them). Each approach has its own pros and cons and no overall comparison is provided. I wrote this tutorial to shed some light on the topic and spare you hours, maybe days, of research and experimenting with aspects of Visual Studio (Toolbox) extensibility… (page 9)

ASP Member News
Save Software Development Time with PacoSoft LogAnalyzer (page 15)

Jerry Stern ASPects Newsletter

The November ASPects arrives in ASP members’ mailboxes today. Here’s a preview of what our members will read about this month.

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November 2012, Volume 25, No. 11, Issue # 268 (482 Kb)

Get Ready for the 2012 Annual Membership Meeting
by Gianfranco Berardi
One of the perks of ASP membership is that you get to participate in the Annual Membership Meeting. It will begin with a discussion period on Saturday November 24, 2012, at 12:01 AM Eastern US Time. The voting part of the meeting begins Saturday, December 1, 2012, at 12:01 AM US Eastern time, and will run for seven days, ending at 11:59 PM US Eastern time, Friday, December 7, 2012. We’ll email voting instructions to all
ASP members… (page 1)

Director Nominee’s Statements for 2013
Ed Pulliam (page 1)
Howard Sobel (page 3)

Trade Show Calendar
ISVCon, September 26-29, 2013 (page 2)

ASP News
3rd Qtr Financial Report (page 3)

Windows RT has Surfaced
by Jerry Stern
October 26th: Today is launch day. Windows 8 is officially available from Microsoft today. And Microsoft opened around 30 pop-up stores around North America to sell Windows RT on the new Surface tablets running ARM processors. I went to take a look… (page 4)

Selling Desktop Software on a Subscription Basis
by Jiri Novotny
Selling web-based software on a subscription basis is very common and a relatively old idea. It is used widely, and is very popular with technological startups…
    In this article, I am going to explore the idea of taking the subscription SaaS concept and applying it to selling desktop software… (page 6)

Scratching and Selling Software
by Al Harberg
Twyla Tharp defines scratching as the seemingly random searches for fodder that we all engage in when working on a new project. She depends upon scratching when shes drawing upon her 35-year career as a dancer, choreographer, and businessperson to look for creative inspiration for a new dance for her company. And every software developer has to scratch for
creative ideas when looking for inspiration to create a new software application… (page 8 )

Choosing a Mobile Development Platform
by Al Harberg
There are a lot of discussions about how to choose the development platform that youll use for development and marketing of tablet and smartphone apps. The main considerations include market penetration, the effectiveness of the platforms online app store, the typical retail price of apps for each platform, and the quality of the development tools that are available.
    Before finalizing your decision, though, take a serious look at two issues that businesses are worried about, from the smallest startup to the largest Fortune-100 enterprise: Consumerization and BYOD… (page 9)

ASP Member News:

• StartFinity is the missing Start Menu for Windows 8 (page 11)
• Powerful Keylogger Protection Available at No Cost (page 11)
• Diabetics Predict Future 3 Hours Ahead with ManageBGL.com (page 11)

New & Press Corner

• Marketers Missing Powerful Opportunity to Engage with Consumers and Build Their Brands Online (page 12)
• FTC Recommends Best Practices for Companies That Use Facial Recognition Technologies (page 12)

Jerry Stern ASPects Newsletter

The ASPects newsletter is sent to ASP members every month. 25-years of back issues are available in PDF format in the members’ archive, and is fully-searchable.

This month, the first few articles are available to everyone as a free download. The full issue is available to ASP members.

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August 2012
Volume 25, No. 8 (314 Kb) 

ISVCon 2012 in Reno

by Gianfranco Berardi
After much preparation, last month the ASP hosted its first ISVCon, the new Software Industry Conference, in Reno, Nevada. The rebooted conference kicked off with a Thursday night Welcome Reception sponsored by Digital River’s MyCommerce. It was a great opportunity to meet fellow attendees while enjoying some of the delicious hors d’oeuvrs and drinks provided by the excellent Atlantis Casino Resort Spa staff, a taste of things to come… (page 1)
 

AppVisor/ASP Partnership to Provide Full Update to the ASP PAD Platform
by Joel Diamond
The early beginning of the idea behind AppVisor started around 2008…
    Thus, AppVisor has been formed to support, protect, and enhance the ASP’s PAD platform, the intellectual property of the platform, and the integrity of the platform, and to reinvest in the platform, so it meets the needs of current and future members of the ASP… (page 1)

Trade Show Calendar
(page 2)

Dennis Reinhardt Joins ASP Hall of Fame
by Gianfranco Berardi
The ASP Hall of Fame recognizes individuals who have helped make the ASP what it is today. During Saturday lunch at ISVCon, it was my pleasure to present the ASP Hall of Fame award to Dennis Reinhardt… (page 4)

The Benefits of PAD Certification
by Joel Diamond
Why does the PAD Platform Require Certification? (page 6)

Interface Guidelines for Mobile/Touchscreen Devices
by Gregg Seelhoff
Several years ago, I gave a presentation at SIC entitled, “Practical Interface Guidelines: Things they did not teach us in programming class”, in which I detailed some best practices for interface design and implementation. While general interface principals remain persistent, the recent popularity and growth in mobile and touchscreen devices demands a revisit; smartphones, tablets, and similar devices have somewhat different interface requirements… (page 7)

Paid Upgrades or Free Upgrades?
by Jiri Novotny
The recent passionate discussion in the ASP newsgroups- “The million dollar question; To charge for updates or not?” inspired me to write this article.
    I would like to offer you my thinking as someone who has experience with free upgrades, paid major upgrades, and upgrade subscriptions… (page 9)

ASP News
Motion: Web forum, Call for volunteer: Member Offers Manager, New SaA: Steve Faleiro, Assistant Don Waterfield (page 11)

Marketing Software to Retirees
by Al Harberg
According to Harris Interactive, 28 percent of people who are 67 and older use eReaders to read books. Based upon the current state of the book publishing industry, I wouldn’t have guessed that 28 percent of many demographic groups read books in any format. But more significantly, the survey points out that retired people are comfortable using technology. And that’s a software marketing message that software developers shouldn’t ignore…

    Don’t ignore the Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation when you’re making your marketing plans… (page 12)

ASP Member News:
Slimbrowser V6 – a Versatile Full-service Browser (page 13)
Digital River Enables eCommerce in in Metro Apps (page 14)

News & Press Corner
ESWC Announces 2012 Software Conference and Epsilon Award (page 14)

Jerry Stern ASPects Newsletter, News

The ASPects newsletter is sent to ASP members each month. The entire 25-year history is available in PDF format in the members’ archive, and is fully-searchable.

But this month is different–the July issue is a free download for everyone, not just members of the Association of Software Professionals.

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July 2012 Volume 25, No. 7 (1.1 Mb) 

“Welcome to Reno!”
by Gianfranco Berardi

The ASP has changed and grown with the industry in these last 25 years. We promoted try before-you-buy as a marketing method until it became The Way Things Are, we’ve made our interests known and were successful at getting important laws changed that would impact our industry, and most recently we’re hosting an amazing conference… (page 1)

Trade Show Calendar
(page 2)

“The Biggest Mistake You Can Ever Make”
by Jiri Novotny
The biggest mistake you can ever make is to wing it alone.
     Being a mISV is awesome. But I think that doing it all alone and never fully onnecting with other mISVs is not awesome… (page 3)

“ASP Indie Games SIG”
by Gregg Seelhoff
Did you know that the Association of Software Professionals has a SIG (Special Interest Group) specifically for game developers? (page 4)

PAD Specification Update
by Joel Diamond
Plans are being made for a major overhaul to the entire PAD platform beginning this summer. Members will be notified in the very near future with the full plans for both changes and enhancements to the PAD Specification as well as the authoring tools, shortly after ISVCON… (page 6)

How to Capture a Screen
by Jerry Stern
I spent some time looking at software screen shots recently. It was something of an eye opener. As in, it caused considerable visual stress to look at the ugly things. They were, for the most part, worthless…
    It’s not just that these screenshots don’t show what the program can do; they don’t even identify what program we’re looking at… (page 6)

“Customer Relationship Management for microISVs”
by Al Harberg

Customer relationship management (CRM) is good software marketing. CRM is a simple notion that can help software developers sell more of their applications: It costs most businesses less money to generate sales from old customers than it does to find new ones… (page 8)

“Call Yourself!
Are You Impossible to Reach?”
by Jerry Stern

I’m surprised by basic web page failures among microISVs. I follow a link to a product I’ve heard about for years, or was recommended to me, and I see, well, crab grass…
    We run software and technology businesses, and many of us are guilty of liking our technology so much, that we want to just do that…
    The common error in a small business is skipping supervision… (page 11)

“Software Passwords and Software Marketing”
by Al Harberg

If your software asks users to create a password to protect the privacy of their information, then you have an opportunity to offer additional value to your customers. And that can mean increased software sales, additional recommendations, and good will for your company in your marketing niche.
     Help your users choose effective passwords… (page 14)

ASP Member News
Slimbrowser – a Fast and Secure Tabbed Web Browser (page 14)
Affordable Cloud-Based Speed Reading Software for Colleges and College Prep (page 15)
Create Handwriting Fonts In Many Major Languages (page 15)

Jerry Stern ASPects Newsletter

The ASPects newsletter is sent to ASP members each month. The entire 25-year history is available in PDF format in the members’ archive, and is fully-searchable.

Here are this month’s articles, available to members of the Association of Software Professionals.

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Call for Nominations: ASP Hall of Fame
by Gianfranco Berardi

The ASP Hall of Fame recognizes individuals who go above and beyond the normal levels of volunteerism to contribute to the organization. The Hall of Fame award is a way of providing recognition and thanks for those people who have made significant contributions to the ASP… (page 1)

ASP News: 2012 Officers, Budget approved
(page 1)

Trade Show Calendar
(page 2)

Getting Followers on Social Media
by Jiri Novotny
Is your Facebook page a wasteland, with more tumbleweed than fans?
     If yes, then this article will help you to start building your follower base. I’m referring mainly to Facebook and twitter in this article, but all the following applies to other social media too, including G+ and LinkedIN.
     This article talks about getting followers on your company/product social profiles, not friends for your personal profile. When it comes to your mISV business, you should always focus on your company or product social profiles, and not your personal profiles. Even if you are using your own name and personality in your marketing, I recommend you to create a dedicated business social profile just for your business… (page 3)

R&D Tax Credits There For the Taking;
How Software Developers Can Benefit
by Dawson Fercho
Any established and successful software developer most likely follows a rigorous process in designing, developing, and testing their releases. Doing so can certainly lead to a healthy bottom line through successful product launches. Unfortunately, many development firms are far less disciplined in maintaining records that could have substantial impact to their financial success by taking advantage of available Research & Development tax credits.
     The federal R&D tax credit has been available to U.S. corporations since Congress passed the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981… (page 6)

New Outreach Committee Chair
by Gianfranco Berardi
Growing the membership means adding to the value you get as a member of the ASP. With a diverse, vibrant community, you have more ideas to share, more business opportunities, and more chances to grow as a software professional… (page 7)

News & Press Corner
Microsoft and Nokia to Invest Up to 18 Million Euros in Mobile Application Development Aalto University (page 7)
SIIA Survey: Publishers Prioritizing Multiple Platforms as they Develop Content Distribution Strategies (page 8 )
FTC Testifies on New Framework for Protecting Consumer Privacy (page 8 )
Survey Shows Webmasters’ Struggles with Hacked Sites (page 9)
FTC Permanently Stops Two More Operations Charged with Using Fake News Sites (page 9)

ASP 2012 Budget
(page 10)

Jerry Stern ASPects Newsletter