Jess Coburn is founder and CEO of Applied Innovations. Jess founded Applied Innovations in February of 1999 and today the company hosts thousands of web sites for small to medium sized businesses worldwide. Prior to founding Applied Innovations, Jess was an electrical engineer with Motorola, helping to research next generation digital communication products.
Applied Innovations decide to make WebsiteSpark hosting a focus? 
Jess Coburn: WebsiteSpark is a new program by Microsoft to help independent web developers and designers build on the Microsoft web platform. Applied Innovations was selected as one of the first hosters involved in this program and I'm personally excited because this attracts web developers that have been hesitant to move to the Windows platform as well as existing developers running their web sites on Windows.
WebsiteSpark allows small web design and development firms to have access to literally thousands of dollars in Microsoft software at no upfront cost. In this economy, that provides a lot of opportunities for small businesses. By coupling this unique opportunity from Microsoft with our advanced Windows hosting infrastructure, we really are able to create an ideal environment for businesses to thrive.
Editor: How does software licensing work with the program? What's in it for Microsoft?
Jess Coburn: To take advantage of the program, a web design and development company opts-in and agrees to certain eligibility requirements. The company then receives access to all of the included development applications at no charge from Microsoft. Although a company can leave the program at any time, Microsoft has charted WebsiteSpark to run for three years. Once a company leaves the program, it is simply charged a flat $100 fee for participation. It's really a tremendously attractive offer, given the value of the software Microsoft is providing.
In return, Microsoft hopes to draw new developers to the Windows platform. Unlike some open source platforms, there can be a cost barrier to developing for Windows. I strongly believe the benefits of Windows outweigh these costs, but an incentive like this can be helpful to allow new developers to test the environment without making a large investment.
As I touched on earlier, WebsiteSpark also provides a foot-in-the-door for new startups which may lack the necessary capital to acquire all of the pieces of Microsoft technology that's needed to be successful. This program eliminates the necessity to front-load these costs.
Editor: Thanks Jess for providing this brief overview of WebsiteSpark. Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Jess Coburn: My pleasure! I'll add that this is not just about free (as in $0.00!) software. You're also going to be part of the Microsoft ecosystem of customers, partners and other web professionals, with complimentary technologies and free resources for marketing and lead generation. You'll also be listed in the WebsiteSpark Marketplace (starting on November 20, 2009) where web professionals can be found by customers, build a web presence, showcase their capabilities, and simplify the process to connect with qualified customers.
The article was extracted from our September 2009 article. To access the entire article click here http://www.appliedi.net/newsletter/September2009/
