Largely unnoticed and without much fanfare, Apple finally made some changes that are going to be very beneficial to Mac software developers: The Mac OS X Downloads page got a makeover, complete with RSS feeds, a top downloads section, staff picks and recently added sections.
And, after just 4 or 5 years, the “Mac OS X Software…” menu item in the “Apple” menu finally points to something useful - the Mac OS X Downloads page.
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You know, this is a pet peeve of mine. Posting about some web page, then NOT EVEN PROVIDING A LINK. :)
Sorry for yelling. By the way, it does look nice, and the addition of RSS feed is a plus, too. Thanks for bring it up.
Um, Kind of a misleading article this, IMO. This is actually the second makeover this section of the Apple website has received since I bought my iBook in November 2003. The RSS feeds are certainly not new, except where new sections have been added (staff picks and recently added). Wasn't Top Downloads there before? Maybe not. And the last paragraph is confusing. My "Mac OS X Software..." menu item always pointed to http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/ , so no change there. Unless Mr. Breidenbach is implying that prior to this makeover the Downloads page wasn't "useful"?
As for the makeover itself: the Top Downloads is interesting, as is the addition of a Movie Trailers link. Little disturbed to discover, however, that the now discontinued and unsupported Windows Media Player 9.0 is number 7 in the Top 20 All Downloads list... AFAIK it's not even available for download at Microsoft.
My "Mac OS X Software..." menu item always pointed to http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/ , so no change there.
That is interesting. I never noticed this before. And I am watching this ever since the menu appeared in Mac OS X. Which is just my point: Apple keeps it so quiet, but it really is a big deal for independent Mac developers.
As for Windows Media Player: Maybe it is still in the top downloads because it was downloaded so often before Microsoft discontinued it.
I suspect that Oliver accessed the downloads section through the German Apple site (being based in Germany), which sends you to a different version of the Downloads section that doesn't look half as nice as the English one. There are also no RSS feeds offered there (only a rather well-hidden link to the full list of Apple's RSS feeds).
The change Oliver is referring to might be that the "OS X Software" menu item used to take us to the German Downloads site (not that it was ever actually nationalised, i.e. with any German text on it), but now it seems to take us to the international site.