I really love working in the software industry. I love the feeling of unlimited potential in terms of what software can do to make people’s lives better. And one of the things that is an indicator for me of the health and excitement is the number of littler software companies I come across that are putting stuff out and making a living. We are working hard to become one of them some day soon. :)

With private companies, the only impression you can really get of them is based on their public face – their software, their websites, etc. So given that caveat, there are still many companies out there who we aspire to emulate based on the pieces we can see. the little app factory is one of those companies.

Based in Sydney, Australia, the folks at the little appfactory make four different products for the Mac. Most interesting to me were Netflix Freak and Connoisseur both of which I’m trying out. The cooking view in Connoisseur (a recipe app) is particularly useful – displaying your recipe full screen and even reading it to you if you can’t look at the screen as you’re chopping, mixing, and tasting. I love how simple their site and software are. I also think it’s great that they’re (at least giving the impression that they’re) following their hearts making things that they themselves want to use. M-Beat and iPodRip round out the bunch. Check out their stuff, and let me know what you think.

There used to be a lot of smaller software companies making great apps. They seem to have disappeared for awhile but they appear to be back now. Though I do get the impression that they’re mostly making software for the Mac or the web.