July 2007

(This article was cross-posted to Global Nerdy.)

The obligatory disclaimer: Yes, I work for Tucows, where I hold the title of Technical Evangelist.

From Shareware to Solutions

The Tucows site — that is the one at tucows.com, the original site where the company got its start as being a place to download shareware — has undergone a big makeover. Here’s a screenshot:

Click the screenshot to visit Tucows.com.

Back when the company got started in the early 90s, finding software online was difficult. Search engines were just in their infancy, 28.8 kbps modems were considered fast and it actually made sense to publish magazines and even books simply cataloging sites and software that you could find online. During this era, Tucows and a number companies found a niche as places where you could find and download software as well as see reviews.

In the age of high-speed connections, Google search, AdSense and that amorphous thing called Web 2.0, the “shareware site” approach doesn’t make as much sense. I download many of my applications directly from the vendor, and number of other apps I use exist as web applications.

In spite of the technological changes since Tucows’ early days — when processor power was measured double-digit megahertz and there was less RAM in my machine than in my present-day key fob — one thing remains: people are still asking “How can I do this using my computer?”

The new Tucows site aims to be a place online where you can go to find solutions to your computer and internet questions and problems. By “solution”, we mean anything that solves your problem. Sometimes it’s software that you can download. Sometimes it’s a web application or site. Sometimes it’s a set of steps that you can follow.No matter what the solution may be, we want to be the place where you can find it.

A Quick Tour

If you visit Tucows.com, the first thing you’ll see, right near the top of the page is the Search solutions & software box, where you can start your search quickly.

Click the screenshot to visit Tucows.com.

If you’re not sure of what to search for or prefer browsing through solutions, there’s a list of popular and recent solutions just below the search box:

Click the screenshot to visit Tucows.com.

Clicking on a solution title takes you to the page for the solution, which may provide download links, links to site or an article, depending on the solution:

Click the screenshot to visit Tucows.com.

You don’t need to sign up for an account, but if you do, you can also rate and comment on solutions:

Click the screenshot to visit Tucows.com.

With an account, not only can you offer your feedback on an existing solution, you can also submit your own.

Give the new Tucows.com a try!

For More…

• Tucows Gets Social, the Original Software Download Site, Launches Radical Redesign: the official announcement of the site’s re-vamp.
• A screencast featuring the new site, featuring me and Greg Weir, our Director of Content Services. [Length: 8 minutes, 10 seconds]

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According to the Bacon Salt site, it’s a “zero-calorie, vegetarian, kosher-certified seasoning salt that makes everything taste like real bacon. It’s the creation of Justin and Dave, “two regular guys who love grilling and football on Sunday afternoons, eating until we can’t get off the couch and of course, the taste of great bacon.”

Here’s a snippet from their story:

Up until several months ago, we worked together in a little technology company. While on a business trip together, we had the chance to sit down for dinner and eventually, the conversation turned to our mutual love of bacon. It was then that Justin told Dave and another coworker named Kara about his idea for Bacon Salt™. Kara, who is a vegetarian, loved the idea. Dave, a card-carrying carnivore and Midwesterner, loved it even more. Even the waiter at the fancy restaurant loved it.

And from that point forward, a partnership was struck to turn this bacon-flavored dream into a reality. We asked friends, colleagues and family members if we were completely nuts, but at each turn we got encouragement and more importantly, people who just couldn’t wait to eat it. We learned that people were unsatisfied by the bacon flavored products on the market: too smokey, too crunchy and none of it tasted like real, savory, delicious bacon, they said. We smelled a big opportunity (which, ironically, smelled exactly like bacon frying on a Sunday morning).

Being techies-turned-seasoning creators, they have a blog.

It sounds very unhealthy-delicious. I may have to try it.

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