exit for updateStage

Despite conversations I heard from the old days, Xtra development was never a route to riches and wealth. The market was never that large, and with a few exceptions, Xtra developers and distributors tended to be individual programmers trying to stay on top of poorly-documented Xtra SDKs, multiple development platforms, and bug reports that didn’t always have a lot of context. As Director’s developer community has dried up, I’ve been concerned what that would do to the Xtra community, which requires a certain critical mass to make it worthwhile just to keep Xtras up-to-date with Director and new operating systems.

And so, I heard today through the grapevine that updatestage.com, which picked up the pieces after a certain Xtra distributor imploded, has closed its doors. I would just like to take this opportunity to say that Gretchen Macdowell, who was updatestage, who wrote code, distributed and supported the Xtras of other developers, maintained one of the most complete lists of Director quirks and another of Xtras and associated tools, and helped out in many forums over the years, is one of the nicest, most pleasant people I’ve ever met and corresponded with. I have extremely fond memories of a dinner with her after a day at a UCON long ago, many emails, and a few phone conversations. I, for one, will miss her presence in the Directorsphere.