Last year I enrolled in Microsoft’s Empower for ISVs program, which for $375 allows small businesses to get an MSDN Universal subscription & other benefits in order to help them build a software product. In exchange for getting MSDN so affordably, you must be a real business (sole proprietor is ok) and be committed to producing at least one Windows-compatible product during your one-year enrollment period.

Now, if you aren’t able to get your product produced in time (which I wasn’t due to my upheaving move to the pacific Northwest), you’re allowed to renew your Empower for ISVs members for an additional year (only), whereupon you have to get your product out within 18 months of your original signup date.

Signing up the first time was easy, but renewing my membership was much harder. I didn’t see anything specifically for renewals other than a link to the main enrollment form, which is only for first-time signups. After emailing the Microsoft Empower group, I received this reply:

Thank you for your email regarding your re-enrollment in the Microsoft Empower for ISV Program.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. In order to re-enroll in the Empower for ISV Program, you will need to fax in the form to us. There is a fax number on the order form, and you will have the option of paying by credit card or check. We apologize that there is no option to pay online.

No link to said fax form, and I didn’t see it anywhere. Finally after some googling I found a link to the Empower Community site and eventually found a link to the Empower for ISVs re-enrollment fax form. So there you go … print out that form, fill it out, fax it in, and you’re re-enrolled. I decided to pay by check (I don’t like the idea of my credit card number lying on a fax machine somewhere), so they’ll be sending me an invoice in the mail.