I've been quite busy with various life things recently, but I was very flattered when Eric Sink offered me a copy of his book, the business of software. Apparently my hanging around in the joel on software forums paid off. =)
Anyways, I'm sure many of you have seen his articles on msdn, and those of you who frequent Joel have seen his posts. Eric runs Sourcegear which is most notable for it's very nice Vault product which in my opinion is a much better alternative to sourcesafe.
I'm sure that many of us developers (myself included) have dreamed of throwing off the shackles of the corporate world and starting our own software company. The "micro-isv" is the popular term for the garage band of the software world these days and Eric Sink having started as a small shop and grown successful has a lot of advice to give out on the subject of micro isvs, business, and development in general. That's where this compilation of his writings comes in.
The book is divided into four parts that spread across all the aspects of starting and running a successful business that most computer geeks are weak in like finance, marketing, dealing with people/sales, and hiring. (Of course, I will overlook his disdain for MBAs *chuckle*)
Naturally your own business idea may make some of the writings more applicable than others, but I assure you that the more you learn about running any kind of business, the better off you will be. And to have the opportunity to learn from someone who has been successful in the software business and writes in an approachable, often humerous manner is truly a pleasure. I recommend this for anyone who is dreaming, in the process, or just curious about the micro-isv phenom. Besides this obvious target audience, I think that the chapter on "Career Calculus" should be required reading for anyone entering or in the software field.