Micro ISV Digest

There always seems to be so much going on, I’m never sure if I’m keeping up. This, as much for my own peace of mind as anything else, is my round-up of the week.

From the Big Guys

• Inside the Googlebot: Sitemaps will let you see what Google thinks of your site, view search hit and result stats, and communicate with the crawler to improve accuracy.
• Google Launched Analytics. A free web site analysis service, there’s a lot of sympathy floating around for all those guys out there who’ve been giving us all great web stats services.
• All your base: Google also launched Base, a classifieds service. GMart anyone?

Other Product News and Announcements

• Ben at BRK Studio has launched a site for his upcoming new product isvManage, previously Project MicroISV. It’s a portal product which integrates with payment processors and provides licensing and support information to you and your customers.
• CaseDetective for FogBugz was released by Ian M. Jones. Congratulations Ian, and great logo...
• Doug Martin released a beta version of LookLater. It looks like it could become a really cool system, and all the great ideas and feedback from the forums must be a big help.
• Fog Creek Copilot now has a monthly subscription option alongside the day tickets. I think that’s great news, and I’m sure that I’ll now be giving it a try the next time the need arises.

From the Blogs

• BugNinja is preparing for acquisition or funding, and has some tips if you’re thinking of doing the same.
• Happy hundred to the Big Picture Guy: I’ve started unofficially measuring how busy I am by the count of unread Big Picture Small Office posts waiting for me. It’s easily one of the best blogs around, and I hope his identity remains a secret long enough for another hundred.
• Dennis Forbes has been following Riya, the Facial Recognition technology, and lamenting the possibility of Ad Sponsored Windows.
• The font of the moment? Jason Fried of 37Signals points out the prevalence of the VAG Rounded font in new web logos. Be sure to take a look at the new reviews site, Riffs.
• Bandwagon Jumping: I announced last week that I was joining the Rails bandwagon, although only as an exercise in curiosity and personal development. Since then, Codesnipers head-honcho KC is also taking a look, while Ian Landsman has decided to take the AJAX plunge in the next version of his helpdesk software, HelpSpot.

In the Forums

• What do you do it when it all gets too much and you just can’t code anymore?
• We often hear from some poor soul about how their partner is freeloading or taking them for a ride, so it’s interesting to hear from the problem partner for a change.
• After the anti-climax of the Brilliant Photo ebay auction, the sale of PDACorp.com might fill a little of the void.

Sound bites

“I have a philosophy on commitment: bite off more than you can chew, then chew it.”
Big Picture Guy
“If you want your site to be found, make a site that people will want to find.”
A Shareware Life
“Just give yourself a 10 day deadline, and just launch it… with almost no features.”
Derek Sivers of CD Baby

If I missed anything important, let me know.