In the spirit of pundits everywhere, here’s my 10 predictions for 2008 and your microISV. Some you will like. Some you will not.

Your customers are going to want more from you. More updates. More tech support. More features. No surprises there, right? But have you taken a look lately at how you plan and execute your updates, deliver your tech support and plan new features? Will they scale for 2008?

Your customers are going to want less from you. Less words. Less noise. Less little facts, property boxes and options. Simplicity is way in, and no one has the time to read complex web site sales pitches, persnickety order pages or jump through hoops just to download your app or try your service.

If you’re based in the United States, your sales are going to go up - from elsewhere. Thanks to the value of the dollar dropping like a stone against the pound, euro and the currency of other countries, our products have gotten downright cheap at a time when more and more people are going online in both the developed and developing world. Maybe it’s time to start making it easier on your non-US customers by displaying approximately what your software costs in their currency, making sure your web site copy is clear and easy to read, and perhaps considering putting your core site information into other languages other than English - if not your entire product or web service.

If you’re based in the United States, your sales are going to go down - from here. Half of the economist pundits expect a recession in 2008, and all are getting very, very nervous when talking about the looming subprime mortgage train crash (Alan Greenspan on ABC News This Week advocating activist governmental action - how the world turns!). New software turns real fast into a want rather than a need if you’re worried about feeding your kids or making your payroll. Maybe it’s time to dust off your dot.com bust copywriting skills: “cost-control”, “inexpensive”, and “competitively priced” are in; “revolutionary”, “exciting” and “cool” are out.

You’re going to be in the movies - little wee ones. You know the same customers who won’t read your documentation will happily squint at 14 325 x 325 screencasts - why not just give in and stop? YouTube and an industry of wannabes want your video: consider making 2008 the year it happens.

Desktop apps are going to dive. No self respecting codemonkey - even the really old ones over 30 - think desktop apps are anything but dead, dead, dead. While the glass ceiling on the computational power of web apps has been strongly dented by Ruby on Rails, Ajax and the maturation of developer libraries like Yahoo Developer, that ceiling is going to get well and truly cracked by Microsoft Silverlight in 2008.

Desktop apps are going to thrive. While the glass ceiling on the computational power of web apps has been strongly dented by Ruby on Rails, Ajax and other web programming developments, the demand for fast, responsive, elegant desktop apps will continue to grow and differentiate in two directions: “Long Tail” applications addressing the needs and desires of relatively small markets which can now a Google AdWord ad away and breaking the hegemony of “one size fits all - or else” horizontal applications.

Your hard disk is going to crash. Your laptop’s hard disk is just waiting for you to finish that all important project before it starts singing to you: “Click, click,ha, ha” Do you have regular, frequent, tested backups of your data or will you be a digital casualty in 2008?

Your hard disk is going to crash and it doesn’t matter. Since no one can stand spending the time and trouble to deal with far-off potential digital disasters, .Mac Backup and Time Machine for Mac lovers and Windows Live SkyDrive and Windows Home Server for the rest of us are going to do it for you.

The future is in your hands. The hours are long, some customers are a pain, and the money could be better. But as a someone starting or growing a software business in 2008, your future is in your hands more so than all the people in all the cubes who wish they could be you.

That’s one prediction I can take to the bank!

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