The VersionTracker Blog - What's happening at VersionTracker

Visit the new CNET Mac Forums

cnet.aaron — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:10:16 -0700

As you may know, for nearly a decade MacFixIt has provided free forums for Mac users at MacFixItForums.com. Today we are beginning to transition the community to the new CNET Mac Forums.

These changes are a direct result of our acquisition by CNET and allow us to provide a broader range of coverage, in addition to drawing on a new pool of knowledge and resources. Our new, broader community will allow us to troubleshoot your Mac issues with a greater degree of accuracy and depth.

Fresh Content at MacFixIt.com

cnet.aaron — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 11:20:47 -0700

Spring is finally here, and we're focused on providing fresh and comprehensive content over at MacFixIt.com. We've been hard at work reorganizing several aspects of how we create articles, and are finally starting to see the fruits of that labor, with more posts and new features.

One of the things we've been working hard on is finding new ways we can help our readers with our coverage. We've added a new contributor with a great Mac background, including working in Apple's own retail stores, and are very happy to have him on board. We've also started to add to our regular publication schedule, and will start some new items soon. You'll be seeing more articles covering tutorials, tips & tricks, and answers to reader questions in the coming weeks.

Restoring Services

cnet.aaron — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 11:51:32 -0800

As you may have noticed, we are making headway on issues that have been affecting our services for quite some time. Our engineers have been working long and hard to repair the many things you've pointed out.

Many of you have asked for a more detailed explanation of what's been going on with VersionTracker. In a nutshell, we've been working to combine two catalogs containing hundreds of thousands of products, and all the information that goes with them. The result of this work is the most extensive software catalog on the planet.

Change Is In The Air

cnet.aaron — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 15:07:05 -0800

As we welcome a new president, it's hard not to think about the broad change that is happening across the country. Presidential change, cultural change and economic change, as well as some changes that are starting to happen in our own more familiar realm.

The beginning of the year saw the announcement that Apple would be leaving Macworld, accompanied by the absence of Steve Jobs from the final keynote. We quickly learned the reasons behind his absence, and wish him nothing but the best and hope for a restful recovery. It is inevitable that Steve will someday take his leave of Apple, and while that is sometimes difficult to accept, we're confident that the culture that Apple has created around innovation will help drive the company forward.

Proper Introductions

cnet.aaron — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:21:09 -0800

I realize that I've been posting information here for a while now, but haven't provided any relevant background demonstrating real knowledge about the things that are important to VersionTracker users. Therefore, I'd like to give you a brief introduction to who I am and what I'm doing here.

The product manager position focuses on VersionTracker.com and MacFixIt.com, with a strong emphasis on the Mac community. I've been using VersionTracker and MacFixIt practically since they launched, so I know exactly what it means to be one of our customers. I set a high bar for our services, and I want to provide customers with a truly valuable resource that is second to none.

A New Leaf

cnet.aaron — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 09:01:52 -0800

It has been a rough year. As several of you know, we've been trying to tackle a lot of challenges here at VersionTracker. We set out to provide the best and most extensive software resource, and we're always trying to improve our service, but recently I feel like we have let you down.

First, I need to let you know that for some of the issues we're seeing, there may not be a simple solution. The nature and magnitude of the work we've done is at the core of why you're seeing so many problems, and while we're working on all of them, we can't work on all of them at the same time.

VersionTracker Ongoing Maintenance

cnet.aaron — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:40:32 -0800

What a week!

First of all, I want to thank all of you for your patience and tolerance as we've continued to work on site maintenance. I realize that this has not been the easiest of transitions, and I truly appreciate the feedback we've received throughout the process.

I also want to reassure you that we're doing everything we can to address all problems in a timely manner. We're working on a variety of issues simultaneously to deliver fixes as soon as they are ready.

VersionTracker.com Scheduled Maintenance

cnet.aaron — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:51:16 -0800

For several months, VersionTracker has been hard at work improving our software listings and architecture to provide a more extensive catalog. In August we told you about the new architecture we moved to that allows us to more easily make improvements to the site. Now we're going to perform a major update that will greatly increase our software listings.

Due to the size and nature of the update, the full process is going to take several days to complete. We are working hard, and our goal is for you to receive the same great service you have come to expect from VersionTracker without interruption.

A new VersionTracker architecture

thomaspenberthy — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:43:53 -0700

As of this writing on August 27, we are about 80% through the process of implementing a brand new architecture for the VersionTracker database that will allow us to more easily make improvements to the site. This project has taken months of planning and tight collaboration between the VersionTracker engineering team and our counterparts at CNET.

The last step of the process involves moving the data into the new framework, and during this time we have to pause our regular update flow. More on the features of the new architecture later (aimed primarily at developers), but for now we apologize for the lack of fresh updates on the site while we fire up the new engines.

New iPhone Newsletter Available

thomaspenberthy — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:15:57 -0700

We are happy to announce that we now offer a newsletter delivering the latest info on iPhone applications. The iPhone Newsletter joins our other updates for Mac, Windows, and Palm applications, and is available daily or as a weekly digest.

Structured as a no-nonsense listing of the latest titles for iPhone, each link points to the corresponding product page on VersionTracker.com, where you can see ratings, read peer reviews, and download directly from the iTunes App Store.