VersionTracker was a website

Website

A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...

 that tracked software releases. It began as a Mac OS

Mac OS

Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...

 software tracker, eventually expanding into Mac OS X

Mac OS X

Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...

, iPhone

IPhone

The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...

, Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

 and Palm OS

Palm OS

Palm OS is a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants in 1996. Palm OS is designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provided with a suite of basic applications for personal information management...

 software.

VersionTracker did not host the majority of the software listed - it merely linked to them.

Browsing and searching the database was free. Paid users had access to a streamlined download process and the VersionTracker Pro software application. VersionTracker Pro tracked software versions on the user's computer and compared those versions to VersionTracker's database.

Competitors

It competes against driver/program update sniffers DriverAgent.com

DriverAgent.com

DriverAgent is a Windows driver scanning, detection, and update software published originally by Touchstone software. DriverAgent's software scans a user's computer and locates updates to the device drivers on that user's computer. This scan is free, and provides a list of the hardware currently...

, RadarSync

RadarSync

RadarSync PC Updater is a driver and application update software program published by RadarSync Ltd. RadarSync's PC Updater offers a free scan and recommendations of updates to device drivers and software applications installed on a computer running Microsoft Windows...

, PC Pitstop, UpdateStar

UpdateStar

UpdateStar is a freeware software application recognizing and providing update information for approximately 1.3 million software programs. Implementing a social computing aspect, the update database is maintained by the users...

, driverguide.com, drivershq.com, SUMo, and to some degree with Download.com

Download.com

Download.com is an Internet download directory website, launched in 1996 as a part of CNET. Originally, the domain was download.com.com. The domain download.com attracted at least 113 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a Compete.com study....

, Softpedia

Softpedia

Softpedia is an Internet web site that indexes information and provides software downloads. The site also covers major technology, science, health, and entertainment news from both external and in-house sources and provides software and game reviews. , it is one of the top 500 websites according to...

, Tucows

Tucows

Tucows was formed in Flint, Michigan, USA in 1993. It incorporated in Pennsylvania and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada...

, and other file download sites, as well as MacUpdate

MacUpdate

MacUpdate is an Apple Macintosh and iPhone software download website, started in the late-1990s. As of summer 2009, it is the 114th fastest growing privately owned company in the USA, according to Inc. Magazine, which lists MacUpdate as the #1 fastest growing company in Michigan, and the 5th...

 for Macintosh software updates.

GnomeFiles and Freshmeat

Freshmeat

Freecode, formerly Freshmeat, is a website owned by Geeknet that allows computer users to keep track of the latest software releases and updates as well as write/read reviews and articles, send or receive comments to or from the author, and many other features...

 are similar sites that cater to the open source

Open source

The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...

 and Linux

Linux

Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

 communities, although most software for these platforms is automatically kept up to date by a package management system

Package management system

In software, a package management system, also called package manager, is a collection of software tools to automate the process of installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing software packages for a computer's operating system in a consistent manner...

.

History

VersionTracker was created by Kurt Christenson, a Sacramento, CA native in 1995. It started as an Apple-only site but eventually expanded to include software related to the Microsoft Windows platform.

In August 2007, VersionTracker and sister sites MacFixIt and iPhone Atlas became CNET

CNET

CNET is a tech media website that publishes news articles, blogs, and podcasts on technology and consumer electronics. Originally founded in 1994 by Halsey Minor and Shelby Bonnie, it was the flagship brand of CNET Networks and became a brand of CBS Interactive through CNET Networks' acquisition...

 sites. CNET's Download.com promotes VersionTracker heavily on its website, through ads and following file downloads, although without specifically referencing its ownership of CNET

CNET

CNET is a tech media website that publishes news articles, blogs, and podcasts on technology and consumer electronics. Originally founded in 1994 by Halsey Minor and Shelby Bonnie, it was the flagship brand of CNET Networks and became a brand of CBS Interactive through CNET Networks' acquisition...

.

In June 2008, VersionTracker migrated all user accounts to CNET's account system. This migration temporarily disabled many paid VersionTracker users' accounts for a long enough period of time that some users were compelled to contact VersionTracker for a fix.

On September 7th, 2010, VersionTracker became fully integrated into the CNET site structure and has merged with CNET's Download.com service. The software update tracking features are all still available, but the old layout is no longer used. Daily updates for programs are listed, and users can download CNET's TechTracker utility for maintaining their installed software through the Download.com site. The VersionTracker URL now redirects to the CNET Download page, which will show either the Windows or Mac version depending on the current platform being used to view the site.

The old VersionTracker Pro utility (TechTracker's predecessor) has been known to have had the lowest rating of 1 star for a long time to this day, even after being heavily promoted by CNET. The new version of the software has been heavily overhauled and integrates with the CNET account and website. There are currently no equivalent star ratings for the new version of the software.

The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) has various posts from former VersionTracker users who seem to be migrating to MacUpdate rather than using CNET, which no longer includes the wealth of information formerly available at VersionTracker after 15 years of user reviews.