Tracking downloads of your software + software CDN?

Question

I'm primarily a web app developer/entrepreneur, so there's a lot I don't know about the desktop software distribution process. I've been thinking about making a Mac OS X app for fun, that I would distribute for free or a really small donation, but started thinking about distribution+download analytics:

a) How do you host your software? Just on your web server/amazon s3 as the CDN? b) How do you track download analytics?

On the flip side, I've thought about developing a simple service that does just this: Offers CDN hosting for software downloads, analytics by version, lets users share the app upon download, and makes the whole process a lot easier for ISVs. Curious to get feedback. Thanks!

-jlb

Answer 1

We had a simple system to do just this, basically made in PHP and when anyone downloaded a specific file the download count would be increased by 1.

It is very simple to do and IMO better to host and implement yourself and then the system can be used for any other download. It is also possible to use analytics to track file downloads by putting javascript on the relevant link (http://seogadget.co.uk/how-to-count-your-outbound-click-stats-with-onclick-in-google-analytics/).

I hope this helps.