An End of Year Thank-you from Gizmo [1]

 

So another year draws to an end. And what a year. Shocking internet privacy scandals involving some of the largest internet companies in the world, sophisticated hacking by nation states determined to influence free elections, massive video and face recognition surveillance of just about everybody as well as attempts by governments to break down encryption standards with the effect of leaving us all vulnerable and exposed.

 

Oh dear, not much good news here is there?  Worse still I cannot see things improving in 2019. Quite the opposite, things are likely to get worse.

 

No point despairing though, that doesn’t help anything. Better to try to improve things where we can, even if this is on a small scale. As the old saying goes, think globally but act locally. 

 

That’s what we are trying to do here at Gizmo’s Freeware. In our own very small way, we’ve tried to stay honest, act ethically and steadfastly resist caving in to commercial pressures.

 

Sounds wonderful but it comes at a cost. As you all know, we are constantly struggling to stay financially viable and that’s a problem that’s not going to go away. In the end it may even result in the site shutting down.

 

But if that happens, so be it. Better that than selling out. Hopefully though, we will survive and, in the process, feel we are doing a little good in a world which has seen the apparent collapse of decency and the demise of ethical standards.

 

But this is not just about us, it’s about you. Without you guys, our regular users, this site is nothing. It is you who make the effort worthwhile.

 

So as the year draws to an end, I’d like to thank all our regular users for their loyalty and contribution through their thousands of posts and comments as well as their financial support during our fund-raisers. I’d also like to thank our many volunteer editors and tireless moderators. Without whose efforts, this site could not exist. To all of you scattered across the world in over 150 different countries, I wish a healthy, peaceful and prosperous New Year.

 

Gizmo