SoftGram Bi-Weekly for 07.31.2005, Vol. 1, No. 1 A Softletter Publication ________________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe from SoftGram, please click on the link below: http://www.softletter.com/aspx/optout.aspx?u=[user_id]&un=[[username]] To ensure you continue to receive your copy of Softletter, please add SoftGram@ezine.softletter.com to your white list. ________________________________________________________________________ Dear SoftGram Reader: You are receiving this special introductory issue of SoftGram because you are: * A subscriber to Softletter or Software Success newsletter. * A purchaser of a Softletter or Software Success handbook or related publication or item. * You are a purchaser of "The Product Marketing Handbook for Software," "In Search of Stupidity: Over 20 Years of High-Tech Marketing Disasters" or other product fromRick Chapman, author the above books. * You are a subscriber to SoftwareMarketSolution.com, the weekly newsletter written and edited by Rick Chapman. ________________________________________________________________________ What is SoftGram? Beginning the week of July 31st, Softletter will begin publishing SoftGram, our twice-monthly E-zine. SoftGram contains information about software industry events, new resources for software publishers, new Softletter surveys, selected extracts from the latest issue of Softletter, information about forum events and posts of interest, offers from companies and people involved in the business of software, and much, much more! SoftGram is published on alternate weeks from Softletter and is available free to Softletter and Software Success subscribers and to participants in the Softletter forums. ________________________________________________________________________ THE LATEST ARTICLES IN SOFTLETTER INCLUDE: Softletter Case Study: Training Your Resellers to Sell One constant that has reverberated throughout software for the last twenty five years is the failure of software publishers to help ensure that their channel partners are able to sell. ISVs offer resellers and distributors plenty of technical and operations training but surprisingly few offer programs that train reseller personnel on modern sales techniques and methodologies. In the past, we’ve been involved in programs that teach resellers how to sell and the results, without exception, have been excellent. Despite this, it’s been rare in our experience to find a software company that makes an ongoing commitment to improving the sales skills of its channel. (In all fairness, this isn’t always the fault of the publisher, particularly when dealing with the larger distributors, who, despite providing plenty of lip service about becoming “solution sellers,” really want to remain box pushers in the secret places in their hearts.) Thus, when Ben Zoldan, principal of Broad Integration, a CustomerCentric Selling affiliate, described the work he’s been doing in providing sales training to resellers on behalf of two of his ISV clients, we wanted to know more. We think the program he describes serves as a model for many publishers who want to Transform their channel into an effective selling force.... ________________________________________________________________________ UPCOMING EVENTS INCLUDE: Marketing and Selling Open Source Software October 6th and 7th, Burlington, MA (Just outside Boston) November 10th and 11th, San Jose, CA Marketing and Selling Open Source is the first seminar dedicated to focusing on the growing business of selling Open Source products and services. Open Source has made the transition from a novelty to a powerful economic force in the software industry. This seminar answers the question: How do you grow a successful business using Open Source as a platform to profits? The seminar agenda will cover: * Successful Open Source business models * Case studies from companies successfully selling Open Source software and services * Fear, uncertainty, and doubt: Combating Open Source FUD * Managing intellectual property in the context of Open Source development * The GPL (and its myriad cousins): What are your obligations? * Integrating proprietary and Open Source products into your business model * The growth of Open Source: A look into trends, growth, and new markets The cost to attend Softletter's two day “Marketing and Selling Open Source Software, 2005” is $895 but if you register by September 30th you can register for $795, save $100, and receive a free copy of the Softletter Financial Services Handbook, over 300 pages of hard data about the software industry, a $200 value. SAVE MORE WITH GROUP REGISTRATIONS! Save an additional $100 if you register two people from the same company, $200 if you register three or more! To book your group today, please call 1-781-751-8650 or go to: ________________________________________________________________________ The Softletter Forums are Now Open! If you are receiving this E-mail you are already a member of the Softletter Forums and have been assigned a username and password: Username: &username& Password: softletter To change your username, password, and make any changes you wish to your profile, click on: http://www.softletter.com/aspx/myMain.aspx We look forward to meeting and talking with you! ________________________________________________________________________ INFO POPS Linux adoption may be "hitting a wall," as use of the open-source OS fell over a nine-month period, according to a quarterly survey of 500 North American companies released earlier this month by New York investment banker SG Cowen & Co. Excerpted from: http://www.varbusiness.com/nl/linux/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=164303428 ******************************* Global semiconductor sales rose in May, mainly as a result of a blistering mobile phone market, the Semiconductor Industry Association said Saturday. Chip sales rose to $18.05 billion in May, up 4% from $17.34 billion during the same month last year, the SIA said. Strong monthly sales growth should help pace overall growth for the worldwide chip industry this year. A number of market researchers and organizations like the SIA have boosted their full-year forecasts for the chip industry in recent months. Last month, the SIA forecast that the global chip industry would reach record sales of $226 billion this year, up 6% from last year. It had previously predicted no growth. Excerpted from: http://www.computerworld.com/hardwaretopics/hardware/story/0,10801,102949,00.html? source=NLT_AM&nid=102949 ******************************* But to those of you who would like to take a happy trip down memory lane, you now can do so without trying to locate an actual Apple II computer. You can take that trip virtually with an amazing Apple II emulator program entitled Virtual ][ that runs on, most appropriately, a Macintosh. First go to the developer's website to download Virtual ][. While there, make sure your speakers are on as you will be treated to a 30 second refrain from Apple Computer's "Apple II Forever" song they played back at the unveiling of the Apple //c on April 24, 1984 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Nice touch and it's still a catchy tune! Run Virtual ][ and the first thing you hear is the familiar power-on beep and the clatter of the attached floppy disk drive as it begins to spin. I got goose bumps. I must impress on you that these sounds are the EXACT sounds that you would hear from the real thing. The attention to detail in this emulator is nothing less than phenomenal. After corresponding with its inventor, he confirmed my suspicion that this was truly a labor of love. The author hardly plans to get rich selling it for $19 for a limited license and $49 for the full-featured version. Excerpted from: http://www.computeramerica.com/content/columns/craig/2005/2005-07-04.htm ________________________________________________________________________ NEW RESOURCES ON www.Softletter.com INCLUDE: RESEARCH, International Profile Canada: www.profilecanada.com Information: Provides subscribers with key information for businesses that want to market to or contact Canada's largest 40,000 businesses. ________________________________________________________________________ CHANGE YOUR SUBSCRIPTION SOFTGRAM: If you no longer wish to receive from SoftGram, please click on the link below: http://www.softletter.com/aspx/optout.aspx?u=[user_id]&un=[[username]] To update your address, please click on the link below: http://www.softletter.com/aspx/myMain.aspx ==================================================== Softletter, 990 Washington Street, Suite 308S Dedham, MA, 02026 Voice: 860.663.0552. Fax: 860.663.0553