Has anyone had positive or negative experiences with the major Mac software update sites? There are two main ones that I use, VersionTracker & MacUpdate and I’ve had problems with both. Just looking to see if I have bad luck or if there really are problems with these sites.
Thanks,
Jon
I’ve dealt only with MacUpdate and I’ve never had any problems.
– Rob
I’m coming off of a string of bad experiences with the MU folks which resulted in the majority of my apps (and certainly my major offerings FWM, NtF!, JPT) being de-listed from their site. Most amazing to me was that this came as I was about to finalize an advertising sponsorship of their site. They seem utterly unfazed by my financial withdrawal and have treated me very poorly and unprofessionally to say the least. The VT folks, on the other hand, have been indifferent and it seems difficult to get their attention to correct or update listings for small developers like myself.
It is so difficult to be a small developer and get the word out about your work. I’m not looking to get rich off of this stuff (though that would be nice) I’m just trying to recoup some money incurred in the time and effort of development. These sites, while ostensibly there to help do just that, don’t seem to be very helpful in that regard. How are small developers supposed to get anywhere?
Jon
Hi Jon, I’m not sure why MacUpdate and VersionTracker would do what they do. I suppose in some ways, they have their stalid advertisers, so getting more, or not, isn’t a concern. Maybe it is.
Why would they de-list you? That is strange.
I’m not sure if this is a help to you [and you may already do it], but we allow Script Authors to hotlink to macscripter from third party websites, such as VT and MU. Aside from our hope that ScriptBuilders is a great place to post scripts, we certainly know that it ain’t the only place in town you can do so. 
There are some authors who don’t have a website, or the wherewithall to post their stuff and have it downloaded directly. ScriptBuilders has helped them in this regard.
Sorry to hear you’re having problems. Please let us know how things work out for you.
I have had trouble with macupdate as well, though I still use them. There is a lack of attention to detail and after some painful experiences I have found that I have to be very careful as to how I present information to them. Getting them to fix things up has been problematic. They seem to struggle understanding any tool or product that is not a typical user interface productivity tool.
Their classification of a product as shareware/freeware/demo/commercial seems arbitrary.
I have had occaisonal problems with versiontracker as well but they have been quite good fixing them up if I post another update on the products page, without modifying version numbers etc. and leave a note to the editor at the bottom. In this case my app doesn’t return to the top of the list.
As to websites like macnn, macminute, macintouch, maccentral. For macnn I have got an article on three occaisons and in each case there were problems, and it was obvious that what they had written was just from a quick scan of the press release and not understanding the purpose of iMagine Photo or Video. Macintouch has always been professional on the four times I got an article mentioned and the two mentions on maccentral were not bad (If you can get a mention on maccentral you coverage is massively increased). I have managed to get one mention on macminute, and not only did they understand what I had written they improved on it.
As for advertising try out google adwords.
Kevin
I believe (though I don’t have proof and I may be wrong–it could just be a nut job) that this is continued fallout from the row with MU:
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/23053
Here’s a sampling the fine literary craftsmanship of whomever this is:
http://www.versiontracker.com/users/AppleBeer
What are you supposed to do about jerks like this?
Jon
Sorry Jon, and others …
Jeezz!! Looking at AppleBeer’s replies is almost worth the price of admission. This guy is on crack. He tats folks with stuff, and all the while, I intuit that he the one who’s in a cave, on a slow connection, and doesn’t have a friggin life.
Jon, we can’t please’m all, so don’t let this sucker bother you. While unfortunately, there are people on the net that use the net as their ‘shield’, they certainly would never say this stuff IRL - they don’t have the guts. :evil:
What is worse, you should go to MacDesign, and take a long look at their board - it’s absolutely disgusting!!! - I wouldn’t spend my time going there anymore, as the people at MacDesign don’t have a proper policing policy to stop that crap. I promise, if you want to get a laugh, go there and see what those folks are saying to each other. It may make you appreciate the kiddy stuff on VT ever more. :shock:
While we’re not perfect, we absolutely don’t allow that kind of stuff to be said around here. If anyone knows of a post, please sik me on’em. Of course, that is probably why our board doesn’t get the traffic that others may, … but that’s ok by me.