My background is 25 years in information technology ... and in that time I have used and purchased a lot of software…

And it has ranged from Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), to closed proprietary software from major vendors, to scripts in Unix shell, and Python that I dreamed up on my own...

One thing I know is you need good support and you need to know that the company is going to be around long term ... well as long as can be expected within reason...

I say within reason as in my years of IT I have worked for big Corp like Lucent and Verizon ... but I also worked for startup companies that dissolved without much of a trace...

The thing about those startups I worked for we had other businesses that relied on our products and our support to run their business, but all the ones I worked with we had an understanding that we were both works in progress ... and yeah some legal stuff as well mixed in when it came to dollars at the end of the day...

But from the outside looking in, with just a little over a year of Internet Marketing under my belt, I have seen this same kind of “startup” mentality a bit in this arena, and I like it...

Well I like it when it is understood that you are both relying on each other to build something ... and there is a mutual respect for that ... and a partnership ... maybe mostly just understood not really a lot of legal stuff...

The thing I have a hard time with most of this software I see in the IM space, especially in the IM launch model, is and I ask myself this all the time, “How are they going to build a long term product that lasts past a year or two, that is if they have a successful launch, to keep the servers running, not to mention pay for future development as well as just general support of the user base.”

In my early “months” LOL of my IM career, I bought into some software products from vendors that have been around a while but do not have a solid base for support, or just simply are not good at it, for whatever reason ... that is not really the point of this...

And support disappeared or again was just not good and I was unable to resolve issues that you need to resolve in a timely fashion or to an actual resolution other than, “you don’t know what you are doing” or “what other plugins do you have running on your blog, that is the problem” or “we are experience slowness do to a lot of extra users or during this launch cycle"...

Again I go back to my IT days of having actual support contracts with major software companies or working with startups that knew that customers were the life blood of their success or failure...

In IM a bit different, as they can just let the product fail and move onto the next launch and make some cash and then keep on trucking...

I do not want to say this is the case for all products, I have some that are really good and good support and I know they are working in the background to make the product better and to last ... at least that is their goal and if it fails it will not be not because of their hard work and/or passion for the product and support to their customer base, the perfect combination in my opinion...

So the point of this long drawn out, rant, story or diatribe...

Simply buyer beware, and take a hard look at the product before you buy it...

Reach out to the product developer, owner and ask questions before you buy it and see what they say and how they treat you...

I know for the most part it does not work the same way it does in IT, we used to give demos and demo software all the time ... but there was a lot more money at stake in most cases...

But that does not really change the idea of what makes a good software vendor and that is what you become the second you create and sell a piece of software ... and I for one expect a lot and again maybe because of my IT background have a different view on the subject...

I would love to hear everyone else’s opinion and/or thoughts on the subject ... please leave a comment and let me know what you think ... also recommendation for good vendors and software in the IM space that you Know, Like and Trust...