MicroISV Evangelism program code named "Glidepath"

As many of you who read this blog know, I'm the Technical Evangelist here at Microsoft responsible for reaching out and engaging the MicroISV community who build software for Windows. Our definition of MicroISV is the 1-10 person, self-funded software company. This is not limited to any particular business model and, in our view, includes shareware, advertising-based software and even developers who ship OEM/retail products only.

Right now I'm starting a new program, code-named "Glidepath", to aggregate many of the disparate offerings we have here at Microsoft that support MicroISV development as well as reach out to the community for other content (documentation as well as code) and guidance that would be useful to the MicroISV.

Part of what "Glidepath" will deliver is workflow-based guidance (think step-by-step instructions) for the many different aspects of being a MicroISV (development, sales, marketing, PR/blogging, etc.). This is not just wizards. This is Visual Studio-based delivery of code, documentation and workflow to give you both the high-level information you need to deal with things like e-commerce DRM (supplied by third parties) as well as code and documentationthat implements the necessary functionality. Imagine 3 clicks that allows you to select a DRM vendor, insert the necessary code into your solution, taking you to the vendor's web site to sign up and finally deliver step-by-step instructions on how to complete the process of hooking the inserted code into your application.

I'd like to know what you think should be included in such a package. Initially we're thinking about such technical viewpoints as Application Architecture, Deployment, Data Access, as well as non-technical viewpoints such as PR/blogging, e-commerce and sales.

If you create content in any of these areas I'm also interested in finding a way to link to or possibly even include your content in the "Glidepath" package.

Please either leave a comment on this blog entry or click on the email link and send me a message directly.

I look forward to your feedback.