Appulous V2 Core Launch!

Hi everyone!

I know, I know, it's been awhile since you've heard from me. I am still alive and, in fact, kicking ;-) And this post is proof!

I've mentioned to a few of you that as soon as PHP 5.3 was released, I'd be launching the new V2 Core of Appulous (more on what that is in a minute). Well 5.3 was released a few weeks ago, but unfortunately because of lots of technical things that only the geekiest Linux-nerds of you will understand, we had no way to safely upgrade to the new version. We were missing server software, the new module architecture, and all kinds of junk.

But that is now resolved

So, on THURSDAY, JULY 23 AT 3:00AM GMT Appulous will be shut down for upgrades. It will be offline for, at minimum, two hours -- but if we run into problems with the remote upgrade, it could be as long as two days for a real person to get over to the server and fix it. I'm taking every precaution with this to make sure we stay online, but there is still a chance the server will have an error on bootup and it will take a real human being to physically walk over to the server machine and help it along. I'll keep you posted every step of the way.

And here's what this upgrade does for us. When you go to Appulous, it will look exactly like it does now -- only, new and upgraded app submissions will have ALL the screenshots from iTunes instead of just one. That will be the only visual difference. Behind the scenes, we'll be running the ultra-fast, crazy-efficient V2 Core. This is the same behind-the-scenes code that will shortly deliver things like comments, ratings, reviews, video postings, popularity trackers, cheats, and more. The fact that we're launching the core code NOW means that we'll be able to upgrade to these new and cool features way more easily

The one BIG feature that you get as soon as the upgrade is complete is the V2 API. Any programmer with a good idea can interface with Appulous and remotely look up apps, submit links, pull info from the database, etc. File hosts will be able to auto-post your uploads, iPhone apps can check to see if certain programs have been updated, etc. The full documentation for how programmers can do this has already been written and will be released as soon as the upgrade has been launched and tested for a day.

So, in exactly two days from this post, Appulous will be offline and the server will be completely upgraded to handle all this new stuff. I'll update you as it's going on

Cheers!
Kyek (who is not dead :D)