Edwin Siebesma, Vice President WinZip Computing, Inc.

WinZip Computing has been an ASP member for more than a decade. The ASP is a valuable source of information and a great place to meet friends and colleagues in the shareware industry.

I just want to send out a THANK YOU to all members and officials of the ASP! Why? Because I was able to quit my day-to-day job in August and can go for my own shareware business 100% now. I would not have gotten so far, if I hadn't subscribed to the ASP 18 months ago. The information I got from this forum, via ASPects and some ASP members made a big difference in my products which can now supply my life. This shareware thing actually works! For this I just want to say thank you!

I had been working in the shareware business for over 4 years when I became a member of ASP. During the first two weeks I after signing up I received help from other members that increased my sales by 20%. This is one my best investments I have done in a long time.

One of the many useful reasons to become an ASP member is the ability to use the "Technical" newsgroup. It is wonderful. It gives you a forum in which you can ask programming related questions, and have them answered by professionals who, like you, have amassed a great deal of experience in developing software applications.

Every now and then, there's a programming issue that baffles you. The membership of the ASP are great at understanding your problem and giving you suggestions.

When I joined the ASP, I saw it as a vehicle to help me improve my marketing. But it's so much more than that. I have been a regular contributor to codeguru.com and codeproject.com for the last 4 years. Those sites are fairly hit and miss these days when asking a technical question. Most of the visitors are looking for help, rather than providing it.

The ability to ask professionals, rather than students, is wonderful.

If you are in the shareware industry and are serious about what you do, you need to be a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals. The ASP connects you with hundreds of other people and companies doing the same thing you do. From articles in ASPects, the monthly magazine, and from posts in the ASP member newsgroups, you will learn what works and what doesn't work in shareware. ASP members share information about how to develop and market shareware that is available nowhere else. After you have joined the Association of Shareware Professionals and seen what it can do for your business, you'll wonder why you waited so long.

Joining the ASP was one of the single most rewarding business decisions that I have ever made. I work with developers from all over the world, and joining the ASP was a crucial factor in the success of my company. The people, knowledge and first-hand experience all add up to a truly unbeatable combination. If you work in the shareware industry, and haven't yet joined, then you're missing out on a daily basis. It's that simple.

Before I became involved in shareware as a marketing method I'd had about thirty years of programming and systems experience, but it was all with big companies and government agencies. What I lacked was a knowledge of marketing techniques which could be applied at an affordable cost. ASP membership filled that void for me. I found ASP members to be very willing to share their expertise with each other in the areas of marketing and business as well as coding techniques when somebody hits a particularly knotty problem.

The ASP is an awesome business resource. Do yourself a favor and join... as fast as you can. The amount of current, quality information available to members on a constant basis (via the Members Only website and newsgroups) has exceeded my wildest expectations.

When I joined the ASP in 1999 I was just starting my software business, with just one (still-not-finished) product. I find the membership useful even now that Visual Vision is an established company. There is something you can learn everyday. And maybe something you can teach!

For us the ASP newsgroups by themselves are reason enough to be an ASP member. The ASP newsgroups are an amazing source of information for anyone using the "try before you buy" method of marketing their software products. One can find discussions about current trends, marketing techniques, technical issues... virtually every topic associated with the shareware industry. So many things that we have learnt through the newsgroups have contributed to our success in this business.