“CNET Networks has acquired the TechTracker family of Web sites, including VersionTracker, MacFixIt and iPhone Atlas. Separate notes confirming the acquisition were posted to all three sites late on Wednesday,” Peter Cohen reports for Macworld.
More info in the full article here.
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FANTASTIC NEWS!! Now someone else can come in and do a better job. This will not be hard as we all expect cnet to destroy these services.
Yeah, the MacFixit or yore was great and invaluable. Then they closed much of it to the public and it was too easy to find the same information elsewhere.
It would be interesting for CNET to do an immediate shot over the bow and remove the subscription requirement. Then somehow transform it into the site to go for mac troubleshooting.
Bye-bye VersionTracker, I’m moving to MacUpdate.com
” Could be (yes I know this is wishful thinking on my part), that CNET just wants to make sure they get a sliver of the upside of being connected with Apple Inc. in any way shape or form.”
So they(CNET/MS) can quash it.
MacUpdate now has my exclusive business.
cos
CNET is funded by Microsoft corp.
The acquisition is mainly to house and traffic the iPhone sucess from the “www.iPhoneatlas.com” site.
Where they shall learn and attempt to errode Apples’ market with MS soon to arrive (5 yrs from now) with it’s Zune-a-Phone, which shall only be seen in a theatre near you.
ahhhhh – hahaha!
Yup – all CNET crap off my BOOKMARK list too!
j
For great alternatives, try Macupdate and OS X Hints
Here is a copy of what I just posted in the MacFixIt Forum, which I believe is valid and should remind everyone posting here of the valuable, constant, and consistant example provided by Ted Landau over the years –
Will try to be a smart troubleshooter and wait for results from the next step in the process before jumping to any conclusions.
But, troubleshooting skills also teach that we must believe previous results – and, sorry, can’t remember many positive coming from cnet.
For your sake, and the sake of the Mac Community who’ve depended upon, supported, and trusted you these many years – hope you have not just made a huge mistake.
We’ll see.
Thank You
BC Kelly
Tallahassee Fla
P.S. – something I failed to give there, but will offer here:
Never forget these words of wisdom from the Ol’ Navy Chief who taught this essential truth about troubleshooting electronics, or anything else …
Son, make damn sure when you try to fix something you don’t come out of it with more problems than you had going in.
So long versiontracker, it’s been nice.
@nekogami13 Listen to Buzz out loud, one of their podcast-one of the hosts continously slams Apple-even referring to the iPhone as a turd.
I totally agree. I used to really like BOL every day, but after James Kim’s passing and the new year starting, Molly Wood is just too much to handle. It’s a shame when media folks like her just go over the top to create sensationalism and controversy just to get “hits” and subscriptions. I don’t listen any more (it also probably went downhill drastically after Veronica left); and in fact it echoes many of our sentiments here that the once-good CNET ship has turned its bow away from balanced reporting over the past few years.
I just hope VersionTracker and MFI don’t get ruined.
MDN: action; as in, what action can we take? (none I fear)
CNET…….don’t they make hairspray?…..
VersionTracker is one of my favorite download sites. Many of the people are from the Portland area, and I have always recommended them to other Mac users who are looking for a program that does something. MacFixIt too, has been a recommended site for many Macintosh people who need help.
For their sake, I hope that they scored a bunch of money from C|Net and are still around to continue their future support of the Macintosh platform.
I’m trying to be positive about this, thinking that the Macintosh and the Mac OS X’s growing acceptance and the growing number of switchers is forcing C|Net to start looking for better Mac support on their web sites. But, I can’t help feeling bad about this whole thing.
Maybe it’s time for the Macintosh community to step up their support of the Macintosh platform and start giving back to the community too.
Comment from: Chris ][
Those sites are now removed from my bookmarks.
Well, I guess this means the weird doesn’t-work-as-you’d-expect problems on VersionTracker will be fixed by the amazing web developers that make CNet hum so smoothly. Er, maybe not.
So, I guess that means that clicking ONCE on the Submit comment button in VT will now post 8 copies of your comment instead of only 2 or 3?
MW: Go “directly” to hell, do not pass go, do not collect $200.
Oh well – no more reading MacFixit for me!
Or using version tracker either.
CNET sucks – expect anti-mac fud all over those sites now.
CNET HATES MAC USERS!
ALL OF THOSE MAC WEBSITES HAVE JUST GONE COMPLETELY DOWN THE DRAIN.
I’ve been feeding the VT RSS to mac everyday for years. I just unsubscribed. C/NET hasn’t ever been any good.