Dedoimedo interviews: Gizmo's Freeware
Updated: March 20, 2017
We're back with a new interview, and this time, we step away from the purely Linux world of things. So far,we've talked to the MX Linux team, two KDE developers, Jesse Smith ofDistroWatch, and Jeff Hoogland of Bodhi. As I said, Linux primarily.And now, for something completely different.
Our voluntary victim for today is the man who started Gizmo's Freeware, also known as techsupportalert.com, one of (if not) the most influential portals on free software. Names and titles aside, we shall refer to him as Gizmo. Without further ado, shall we commence?
Hi Gizmo, please introduce yourself.
G: You might find this odd coming from a computer geek like me but my formal training is not in computers butin Clinical Psychology, though I have never practiced in that profession. That's because at university I alsomajored in maths and back in the 1960s, anyone who could spell mathematics was quickly recruited by thecomputing industry. So, as soon as I graduated I went straight into scientific programming and I've beenworking in the computer industry ever since.
DM: This is an interesting observation - spell mathematics - as we've seen the same trend repeated in the late90s, when people with Excel skills were referred to as wizards and magicians of the blooming IT world.
G: I enjoyed the challenge of scientific programming but with time I moved into technical management and in mylate 30s ended up as the de facto MIS manager for a government department. It was there I saw one of the firstmicrocomputers - a Z80 S100 bus machine running CP/M. After using it I remember thinking "This is the future."
Our guest; this is one of his more recent pictures - taken from Wikimedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
The microcomputer impressed me so much I bought one for myself, well more accurately I built one for myself.When the first spreadsheet program VisiCalc was launched, I could see an opportunity so I left the safety of awell-paid government job and started my own business training corporate staff in the use of PCs. This reallytook off as the timing was perfect and in a short period the company had six training centres and was thebiggest player in the local PC training market. I ran this for some years before selling to a publicly listedtraining company.
What is behind the domain name: techsupportalert.com?
G: After I sold my training business, I acquired from a printed word publisher a small website calledtechsupportalert.com which as the name suggests, dealt mainly with supporting PCs. The site also had an emailnewsletter called Support Alert with a mailing list of a few thousand subscribers.
My aim in taking over the site was to broaden the site's market to a wider group of tech savvy users not justtech support personal. I did this by doing a lot more reviews of free Windows utilities as well as coveringusage tips and PC security issues.
The software reviews proved very popular so I decided to build a list a recommended utilities called "The 46Best-ever Freeware Utilities" which I maintained regularly and promoted in the Support Alert Newsletter that Iwas then writing and distributing monthly. The "46 Best" list eventually became super popular and thenewsletter itself ended with over 150,000 subscribers.
Gizmo's Freeware; with anew, revamped look.
By this stage the 46 utilities had grown to over 100 and was getting difficult to maintain for a one-manoperation particularly when I was also writing and administering the newsletter. So, when I was approached byWindows Secrets newsletter to sell them Support Alert newsletter I agreed in a flash.
I didn't sell the techsupportalert.com website as I had plans to change the way it worked. I knew I could nolonger maintain all the reviews on the site just by myself so I had to find a way forward. The simplest optionwas to hire staff and run the site along commercial lines but this had little appeal to me as I'd run my owncompany before and knew how committing that activity can be.
So instead I decided to turn the site into a non-commercial community website with reviews written andmaintained by that community. This was pretty much in line with the spirit of the Internet at that time.
I called on my newsletter subscribers to join with me in the revamped website as volunteer reviewers and theresponse was overwhelming with over 100 joining within a week. I asked several of these with appropriateexperience to become part of a management committee to help run the site and guide its development. This isstill how the site runs today. No salaried staff, no offices, a true community effort.
Can you tell us more about Gizmo's Freeware?
G: The new website needed a new name so I asked the management committee for suggestions and we collectivelycame up with "Gizmo's Freeware."
At that stage the plan was to change the URL from techsupportalert.com to gizmos-freeware.com but that ran intoa problem. If we changed the domain name we would lose almost all our excellent Google ranking and most of oursearch engine derived traffic.
So we stuck with the old URL techsupportalert.com which is still in use today. We do have gizmos-freeware.comand variants registered and one day we may change to that url.
Who finds, reviews and catalogs all this free software?
G: Reviews of individual product classes are maintained by specific volunteer editors who have responsibilityfor that product class. So the category "Best Free Anti-virus" has an editor whose responsibility is tomaintain and update the existing reviews of products in that category as well as add new products they havebecome aware of or have been suggested by our users.
Software is organized in easy-to-find-and-read categories, with detailed recommendations and thorough reviews;there's
also a vibrant forum full of experts who can share their experience and knowledge.
What is your mission?
G: To provide users with honest, reliable guidance in selecting the best free software products for theirneeds.
In my opinion, Gizmo's Freeware is the most reputable source of software recommendations on the Web - apologieswider audience, I am biased - and has remained so despite all the changes andturbulence in the softwarescape in the past decade. How do you manage to weather the wildly swinging moods ofthe Internet?
G: Thanks for the kind words, they are appreciated.
The key to understanding Gizmo's Freeware is that it is a community website not a commercial website. Ourpriority is to provide a free service to users rather than to make a profit or maximise income. The importanceof this cannot be overstated.
We are regularly approached by software vendors who want to pay us to give their products a favourable reviewor include their products in our recommendations. Still others want to provide us with reviews of theirproducts they have written themselves or offer us freebies of various kinds.
The list of commercial inducements is quite long and we have resisted them all. We have never accepted paymentfor a product to be reviewed or to be given higher ratings. We have never published reviews written by vendorsand our editors are prohibited from receiving freebies or other disguised bribes. It is a credit to ourvolunteer editors that they have subscribed fully to this ethic despite the temptations.
Is there a screening or vetting process behind software reviews?
G: Reviews are the responsibility of our volunteer editors. Given that responsibility we are quite strict inwho we accept as editors and maintain a close watch on the contribution of those who have recently joined.Because of this strict vetting procedures, we have had few issues with review quality and most those we havehad, relate to the standard of the written English rather than the review content.
Now, the most important question, do you become a Gremlin after midnight?
Nah, but after midnight the gremlins sometimes get me.
DM: Readers, I would be careful if I were you.
Do you actively contribute to the site yourself?
G: When I shifted the site to a community model I deliberately reduced my written contribution as I wanted tomake the site less associated with me. I'm still heavily involved in the site but mainly do the back-room stufflike server management.
Is there a particular category you feel is best represented at Gizmo's Freeware?
G: I think our coverage of free security software is outstanding with volunteer editor Ako's huge list ofsecurity products just one of many articles which are IMHO, the best of their kind on the net.
Conversely, is there any type of programs that lack reviews and testing?
G: With mobile now so important I'd like to extend our coverage of the best mobile apps. It's reasonably goodnow but needs to be even better.
How would you like the site to evolve in the coming years?
G: The future is with mobile so we need to give this increased focus. Associated with this is better use socialmedia to broaden our audience.
Do you think the mobile world has affected your popularity or relevance?
G: Absolutely as it has just about every site on the Internet. Years ago, we shifted from being a Windowsfocused site but still retained a desktop orientation. The decline in interest in desktop computers and inparticular, the market failure of Windows 8, had an adverse impact on our traffic at that time. Since then wehave pushed towards more mobile coverage but we have a long way to go.
If you had an unlimited budget, how would you grow techsupportalert?
G: Unlimited budget you say, well I guess a man can dream. If money was not an issue I'd like to supplement ourvolunteer editors with a small, salaried team of professional reviewers specifically focused on mobile softwarereviews. Some specialist Social Media staff would be great too.
Since this question went unanswered in the last interview, in a fight between Casey Ryback and John Matrix, whowould win?
G: I refuse to answer that question without including Rambo.
DM: I humbly bow to thy answer, sir.
What advice do you have for a newbie freshly starting their journey in free software?
G: Dedicate yourself to the Open Source sector as that is path with the truest heart.
What do you think of the old paid-vs-free and no-such-thing-as-free-software arguments?
G: Mobile has shifted the market perception; free is the new normal and is now expected particularly by youngerusers. Associated with this is the rise of the freemium model and I must admit I'm not enthusiastic about thisdevelopment.
Any security related tips?
G: If somebody wants to hack you they can and will so don't obsess on trying to have absolute security, itdoesn't exist. Just do the standard "due diligence" things to ensure you are not low hanging fruit. Apart fromthat, just keep a low profile and make yourself a small target.
Favorite Bond movie?
G: In that genre, I'd prefer Dr. Strangelove to any Bond movie.
DM: Wisely answered.
Anything else?
G: A wish: in this new world of alternative facts what about a return to truth, integrity and honesty inpolitics, business and the Internet.
Summary
As Gizmo tells us, finding high-quality content on the Web is no longer trivial. Everything comes masked withprofit, and if not outright monetary considerations, there's a definite focus on glamor. Separating intent fromcontent becomes tricky, especially if you're on a hunt after good, honest freeware.
The existence of techsupportalert.com makes this mission less frustrating, and you will truly be amazed by theaccumulated stockpile of good, thorough material, research and no-agenda recommendations. The Web as it wasmeant to be. Again, do take my words with some reservation, as I'm involved and biased, but then, there arevery few places on the wider Internet I even consider worthy of reading,so there's that.
Some uncertainty remains, especially round the Trio, and I'm not talking about Spaghetti Westerns, it'saboutRambo and friends. May the Force be with you. Oh, I love Star Trek! Seriously, Gizmo's Freeware should be yourone-stop shop to zero-cost software. Start there, then branch out if you need to, but you probably won't. Happyto have had this opportunity, and I'd like to thank Gizmo for not turning into a wild monster during theinterview, and wish TSA many more years of operations.Dedoimedo out.
Cheers.
