I was going to post an article on how sad and surprised I was to learn that Ergosoft (エルゴソフト), a Japanese input method maker1, folded their Mac software business in January 2008. I met one of their engineers at an input method developer's seminar hosted by Apple in Beijing, China in 2007. They used animated menu and had an excellent UI (that was before Core Animation) and showed people what input method could be.
A number of articles reported or commented on its quitting Mac software business:
And that was when Kida-san saw my tweet and told me that Monokakido (物書堂) was a spin-out, founded by two of Ergosoft's former employees. I was so gladly surprised to learn that, because Monokakido is the company that makes the iPhone version of the very popular Japanese dictionary Daijirin (大辞林) !
The story of Monokakido is definitely inspiring. Their mission, according to their company intro, is
"Mac で文章を書く人々に対して、創造力を最大限に発揮できる道具を提供することを目的としています"
(to provide everyone who writes on Mac with tools that bring out the best of their creativity).
Plus the fact that they are a company of two, it immediately becomes my role model of what a small software company can do and achieve.