Founder and Managing Member Michael Callaghan said that the motivation for this product was two-fold. "First, I got tired of going to usps.com just to look up a zip code," Callaghan said. "Second, Vista Gadgets are just a compelling technology we wanted to explore."
When asked why the company was giving the product away, Callaghan remarked, "Marketing and selling small utility products of this nature really isn't part of our business model. Plus, it's hard to justify selling a technology demo. That's not to say that the quality of the product is less than our usual standard. We've stressed the web service behind the gadget pretty heavilly, and it always held up. You'll probably see a heavy-duty version of the utility soon."
In fact, Walking River Software is currently working on a more enterprise-ready version of the ZipGadget that will integrate into Microsoft Outlook ™, enabling users to look up zip codes and validate large batches of addresses with the click of a button. Until that product is released, however, the ZipGadget will continue to fill a much-needed gap.
About Walking River Software LLC:
Walking River Software LLC is located in Alton, NH and owned by Michael Callaghan. The company offers unique and creative Windows-based software solutions to businesses of all sizes.