Last week I attended the 2008 Software Industry Conference. SIC is the conference for shareware developers and other Independent Software Vendors. David I attended last year, and this year I went. We go because there are lots of Delphi developers there, and because lots of Delphi developers are ISVs. We want to support our customers there, meet them, hear what they have to say, and to learn more about what ISVs are up to and what we can do to better serve them.
It was quite educational for me. The first thing I noticed was that that everyone seemed to know each other. Turns out that this conference has been going on for quite a few years, and most everyone had been many times before. That was fun to see. The next thing I noticed was that the contents of the sessions was not quite what I expected. For some reason I had a notion that the sessions would be more technical. There were some sessions — including a good one about getting your applications into U3 and PortableApps – but most of the sessions were about sales, marketing, distribution, Google AdWords, etc. Naturally, the attendees had the technical part down — they all know how to build their software. But the more challenging part — the part they were interested in most — was how to market and sell their products. (Duh!) 
Friday Night was the exhibition. There were a large and interesting array of vendors there — great to see. All of them were sort of "meta-ISVs" — companies that provided products and services that support ISVs. Digital River was there in force. I had an interesting chat with the folks at TrialPay as well — they have interesting business model which sort of helps redefine the notion of giving your application away for "free". There were also companies who had interesting ways of distributing shareware, e-commerce vendors, and companies to provide CD printing and publishing. I chatted with every vendor there (getting a stamp from each, but failing to win the Zune. Darn!). It was quite interesting, and I came away with a better feel for what ISV’s need to succeed.
The final night of the conference was the Shareware Industry Awards, and I was delighted to see that Delphi applications did quite well amongst some pretty strong competition. Winners built with Delphi included Help and Manual by EC Software GmbH, ImageElements Photo Suite by Lincoln Beach Software, WISCO Word Power by www.wiscocomputing.com, and SwordSearcher Bible Software by Brandon Staggs.
And oh, I am also now a proud member of the Association of Shareware Professionals. They had a hospitality suite, and it was good to meet some real ISV/Shareware veterans there. If you are a Delphi ISV/MicroISV, I’d strongly recommend joining. They have great resources, partnerships, and fellow members are quite willing to help out with advice and wise counsel.
The last day we also had an impromptu "Delphi Meetup" with the Delphi developers at the conference, and I got some great feedback about Delphi, ISV’s and what they want and need. (Thanks to the ASP for letting us use their room). They were all doing great things with Delphi, and you’ll be seeing some of that in upcoming editions of "Cool Stuff with Delphi". They were also anxious to get a look at Tiburon because they all want to expand their market reach into emerging markets like Russian, China, and others.
By far the best part, though, was the great people I met. It really was a friendly, nice bunch of folks. I had a great time talking with Kory Becker and his lovely wife (a dead ringer for Gwyneth Paltrow, seriously) from Ksoft. (Kory isn’t a Delphi developer, but I’m working on him. 
) I also met Chris Thornton of ClipMate fame. Chris was kind enough to give me a license to this excellent Delphi application.
But easily the most interesting people I met there were Danny and Ricky Housley, shown below with their Dad, Dan. Both of these kids are Delphi developers. Ricky (on the right) has used Delphi to win the last three Massachusetts State Middle School Science Fair Championship. Very impressive!
Dan and his wife Sharon were part of organizing the conference, and they couldn’t have been nicer, and their sons couldn’t have been more impressive, polite, smart young men. And why not give a look to their products over at http://www.notepage.com/. Their products are proudly built with Delphi.
Sharon, Dan, Paris, and the gang that runs the SIC couldn’t have been nicer and more hospitable. I had a great time, and I’m looking forward to CodeGear hopefully having a bigger presence there next year. Thanks everyone!
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