JetBrains Omea Reader vs. Sharpreader

I am an RSS junkie. I have used only 2 news readers in the past: Feedreader and Sharpreader. I have used Google reader for some other feeds/reputation monitoring purposes, but sometimes find it a bit clunky and unreliable in terms of handling lots and lots feeds. I am talking ALOT of feeds. Currently have hundreds and hundreds of feeds tracking hundreds of keywords, blogs and general news stuff. At times, I have over 30,000 items in my reader that I look through. Up until now, I have used Sharpreader and really liked it. Sharpreader did its thing and I went along my merry way.

Then last night I downloaded the personal edition of the JetBrains Omea Reader and my RSS/feed addiction has been taken to a new level. Without question, this is the best free reader on the market. Its laid out well and has a ton of features nor normally found in many readers. I especially love the “subscribe to search feed” feature. If you are in the market to switch or just want to try out a new look and feel of your seemingly boring reader you need to check out JetBrains Omea Reader….as you will not be disappointed

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Branding For a Software Company

John at Duct Tape Marketing has a great definition of branding that I would like to share:

“Branding is the art of becoming knowable, likable and trustable”

So with this definition in mind, how can something like this statement above apply to any software company of any size? Does Microsoft or Oracle need to brand their software anymore than they already have? Some people trust and like Microsoft and Oracle and some people don’t. I think more where this applies to is company’s who have a multitude of products or services and are well known in the marketplace for some piece of software.

Branding takes alot of patience, time, money and creativity. You cant just buy a Super Bowl Commercial and expect that it will instantly brand you. (ok..maybe GoDaddy is a bit of an exception) Buying the back cover of trade magazine is a good start but for some is expensive. I feel that in todays transparent world, a great way to brand yourself is to open up the doors, knock down the walls and show the IT community that you are all about collaborating and solving the pains of their world as well as being a thought leader in your respective marketplace. You can have the best products in the world, but if you play the secracy game with the public, branding will be difficult.

Here are a few (yes a few) ways to build a good brand in software

1. Start a blog. A good blog..not a chest pounding advertisement, but one which adds value to your expertise

2. Hire an evangelist.

3. Build a wiki or a community centered around pain and have that evangelist dedicated to fostering both

4. Educate educate educate through as many new mediums as you can (podcasts, video, white boarding sessions etc….)

5. Do a super bowl commercial (kidding)

6. Do things that are fun for your audience…show them that you are real

7. Monitor your reputation online and comment and acknowledge people that talk about you and your industry.

This is just a start, but if you manage to do the above you are well on your way to branding your organization

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