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Interviews
Published date: May 07, 2007© 2007 Avangate page 1
www.avangate.com
 
Interview with Eric Sink
Adriana Iordan, Web Marketing Manager, Avangate
Interviews, Published date: May 07, 2007
In the second issue of Avangate Digest, we had the pleasure to talk to EricSink, who coined the term micro-ISV,who has been writing about the business of software on his blogfor several years, and wrote a series of  articles for MSDN.He has also published a successful book called "Eric Sink on the Business of Software."He is also one of the hosts of  The Business of Software,a discussion group which comes highly recommended for software startups. He led the group that created the Spyglass webbrowser, which later became known as 'Internet Explorer', he created the AbiWord open-sourceword processor, and now he's one of the principals at SourceGear, which is a leading vendor of version control tools.
Adriana Iordan:
Can you tell us a little about yourself, your background and how you came towrite "Business of Software" and found SourceGear?
Eric Sink:
I live in Champaign, Illinois, just a couple of hours away from where I grew up. Icame to college here at the University of Illinois. A couple years after graduation I ended up atSpyglass.My experience at Spyglass was very positive, but I reached a point where I felt like I was donethere and ready to move on. The turning point was a men's pancake breakfast at my church.The speaker that morning told us: If you don't like your job, then you either need a newattitude or a new job
.
I tried to get a new attitude and failed. So I quit and started my owncompany. My only real goal in starting SourceGear was to create for myself a job that I liked.I started blogging several years later. My blog articles became reasonably popular, so that'swhat led me to publish them as a book.
 
 
Interviews
Published date: May 07, 2007© 2007 Avangate page 2
www.avangate.com
 
Adriana Iordan:
How has becoming a published author affected your career? What are thebenefits of publishing "Eric Sink on the Business of Software"?
 Eric Sink:
I got exactly what I wanted from publishing a book: increased credibility and a wideraudience for my writings. People tend to overestimate the importance of a book. There's acertain mystique which comes with seeing my book on the shelf at a bookstore. In general,becoming a published author hasn't changed my life in any major ways, but I'm glad I spentthe effort to make it happen.
Adriana Iordan:
What about the blog, what was the impact on your business?
Eric Sink:
The impact has been positive, although I consider that to be an accident. I didn'tstart blogging to benefit my business. I just wanted to write. I'll confess that my blog articlesdo seem to be an asset to our company's presence, and I'll further confess that this is now partof my motivation to blog. But it didn't start out that way, and if it had, I'm not sure I wouldhave been successful. I think people want to read blogs which are written with a very genuinevoice, and that voice is hard to find when your primary goal is money.
Adriana Iordan:
Since you have been one of the creators of the Spyglass web browser, laterknown as Internet Explorer, can you tell us what the difference is between how the Internetwas perceived 10 years ago and how it is now seen? Have your expectations been confirmed inregard to the impact of the Internet on the software business?
Eric Sink:
It's an understatement to say that things have changed a lot. I remember the firstfew times we saw a real company put up a website. Nowadays any company without a websiteis hurting their credibility.Have my expectations been confirmed? Certainly not. The Internet has far, far exceeded myexpectations. I had no idea the web was going to be this big. When I worked in the browserwars, I was still quite young in my career. I didn't know how to see trends.
 
 
Interviews
Published date: May 07, 2007© 2007 Avangate page 3
www.avangate.com
 
Adriana Iordan
:
You’ve created AbiWord an open source
word processor. How do you feelabout Open Source software in general? Should the software vendors consider using opensource as a revenue building strategy?
Eric Sink:
I am generally a fan of Open Source. I use a fair amount of Open Source softwareevery day. I also use a bunch of proprietary software every day. I'm a pragmatist. Thereligious and philosophical parts of the debate don't interest me much.For most companies, releasing software as Open Source is going to be a bad strategy.Software is a high risk business. That's why the margins are so high. Releasing stuff as OpenSource tends to reduce the margins without really reducing the risks. There are exceptions.
Adriana Iordan
: Was there a moment you thought you should give up and close SourceGear?What did you do when you didn't have any clients?
Eric Sink:
Good question. I'm not sure anyone has ever asked me if I was ever ready to justgive up. The answer is "no". SourceGear has had many ups and downs. The downs have beenvery stressful. But I have never wanted to just shut it all down.
Adriana Iordan:
What are the most important things, ISVs should do to improve theirsoftware sales (now would be a great time to share with us the secrets of your successyou're hiding so well..)?
Eric Sink:
I'm always reluctant to give short, pithy tips, but I'll do it anyway:1.
 
Build something that people actually need, even if you'll have serious competition.2.
 
Most companies worry too much about getting new customers and too little aboutkeeping their current customers happy.3.
 
Create a product that your customers will WANT to recommend to their friends.
Adriana Iordan:
What "marketing outlets" did you find most useful in spreading awareness of your software products? Were there any outlets that you found to be a waste of time/money(do you still give print advertising magazines a chance?)
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