As an aspiring µISV I am very interested in all the ways to promote my future product. When I saw the announcement for the Project Glidepath early access program (EAP from now on) I had to check it out.

On a first look, what’s not to like – assuming you’ll be using .NET 3.0 (I will) and plan to ship about the same time Vista ships (I do) all you need to do is to apply and (if you are accepted) Microsoft will help publicize your app. Sounds great?

Well, yes and no, because as always the devil is in the details. The intent is definitely good and the work put in the Project Glidepath is non-trivial, but I think that the whole thing is somewhat misguided. Here’s why…

Let’s assume that I am a perfect fit for the EAP as described above. I can easily commit to all four points:

1. to ship 90 days within Vista availability
2. to use C# and Project Glidepath¹
3. to build the app using .NET 3.0
4. to allow² Microsoft to promote my app

 What do I get in return?

1. early access to updated builds of Vista and related technologies
2. copy of Visual Studio 2005
3. regular conference calls and private forum
4. direct technical support (limit 25 hours) over the course of the EAP

Here’s the thing: if I am an aspiring µISV, I already have access to Vista and related technologies. Why? Because I am most likely either paying (not cheap) for my MSDN subscription or I am subscribed to the most excellent empower program (very cheap).³ For the same reason I already have a copy of Visual Studio 2005. If I needed both the access to Vista and Visual Studio 2005 then I really am either naive or a beginner – Vista will ship in about six months and I plan to ship a product but don’t have basic tools and the platform? Not likely.

The third point (conference calls, private forum) looks to me as “hype and filler”, said one of the contributors to the great Business of Software (BOS) forum over at Joel. Especially the private forum thing – if we are all testing the platform, why not share the findings with the other developers who are also developing for Vista in one of the MSDN forums?

The only thing that’s left that can be useful is direct technical support for those rare occasions when something looks really, really weird. My experience however has been less than positive about direct technical support in general – if you encounter a problem that you’ve thoroughly studied, went to all the relevant forums and searched the Internet and did not find the answer, the chance is high that support will not be able to help you.

The whole things looks and smells quite similar to something that I did participate in: Channel 9 ‘s PDC 05 contest. Turns out that the same team/person that provided Shareware Starter Kit (SSK from now on) is doing the Project Glidepath (coincidence? I don’t think so). After using the SSK I can attest that its quality has been… less than satisfactory, mildly put. In fact, as soon as the competition was over I could not wait to remove the code from my codebase.

The whole SSK (and looks like Project Glidepath is the same) was just too much hand-holding and step-by-step process. If you need all that then you are probably not a µISV material. It takes a lot more than a “silver bullet” solution like Project Glidepath to launch a successful µISV. For more info just go visit BOS forum and see for yourself what real people who already have products on the market are facing every day.

On the other hand, I understand that for Microsoft it is beneficial to look cool (Project Glidepath’s updates are delivered over RSS straight into Visual Studio) and support the µISVs. After all, these are the people that are building for the next Windows platform and in a way, their products will (if only by little) help sell more Windows licenses. I just think that empower program plus an ISV buddy program are more than good enough for practically everyone. For those that will still take the EAP opportunity, I say: good luck and all the best. Maybe something cool comes out of it.

¹After a direct question I posted to the Michael Lehman's blog this does not seem to be necessary. Or did I misunderstand the answer? I know I don’t need Project Glidepath in general, but do I need it for the EAP?

²Why wouldn’t I allow Microsoft to promote my product? After all, the main problem most µISVs face is spreading the word about their product, not developing it.

³I’d really love to provide the link, but Microsoft partner site requires you to login with a Windows Live ID (a.k.a. Microsoft Passport). That’s not a problem for me, but it’s a bit useless for (many) people who hate don’t have Windows Live ID.