Nearly ten years ago, founder Kurt Christensen, then a Macintosh Systems Administrator, was looking for a way to track the myriad of software releases popping up on the Mac platform. He started posting a web page each day listing all the latest updates, including links to the developer and the download. It seemed useful, so Kurt mailed it out to his friends. He had invented the first “software update site,” a concept that turned out to meet a giant untapped need. Within a year, VersionTracker.com was one of the most popular Mac sites on the web.
What began as one man's organizational tool has evolved into an award-winning, computing resource for Macintosh and PC users.
Also In 1996, MacFixit.com launched, another “social computing” resource to share Macintosh trouble shooting tips, news, and generally useful information. Today, MacFixit.com is the world's premier web site for all things related to Mac support, including news, tips, reports and articles, as well as forums and discussions that connect user and developer communities around the world.
In 2002 a subscription-based service, Version Tracker Pro, was launched. This client-based application enhanced the capabilities of its parent web site, allowing users to customize VersionTracker.com and track their own software directly from the desktop. Since its humble beginnings, the company has evolved to include a suite of tools that help millions of users personalize the VersionTracker.com site, make informed computing decisions, troubleshoot, as well as automate the process of keeping the software and drivers on their machines up to date.
In 2002, VersionTracker.com was named best utility web site in Time Magazine's “Tech Time 50 Best Websites” issue. The accolade came just as the VersionTracker database approached a key benchmark of 25,000 total applications across the Windows, Mac, and Palm platforms. VersionTracker Pro was named one of the top 30 subscription services on the web by Internet Market Group LP in 2003.
Today, VersionTracker.com is the most up-to-date, comprehensive resource for Windows, Mac and Palm software upgrades, patches, and updates on the Internet. Millions of visitors use the site to improve their software's performance and security with the latest plug-ins and updates, or just to see what new developments are happening in the software universe.