4 ms·

Gizmo’s Freeware Says Farewell

23 points by pomian 5y ago

pgrote 5y ago
I believe the submitted link should point to this page: https://www.techsupportalert.com/content/time-say-farewell.htm https://www.techsupportalert.com/content/time-say-farewell.h...
- kemayo 5y ago
  Yeah, the submitted-link seems to be that URL... with the full text of the "goodbye" blog post appended to it. I'm kind of surprised that HN lets you store such a large URL. (Obviously URLs can be very long, technically. But.)
  - remram 5y ago
    I'm more surprised that it lets you submit a 404 honestly (or that it gets upvoted)
pronoiac 5y ago
I wasn't familiar with the site, and when I clicked the Back button, or tried to go to the homepage to see what was there, I got redirected to scammy "update your Flash plugin" malware pages, so ... I'm ok with this.
- pacifika 5y ago
  Well it was one of the main freeware recommendation sites for windows
  - musicale 5y ago
    Which means it has to be a malware site by definition? ;-)
- musicale 5y ago
  Whatever it once may have been, it's now apparently a malware site. I don't know whether it always was or if it was sabotaged (by its owners or by others) over the past few months, but in its current state it has negative value.
Groxx 5y ago
Browsed around briefly, and apparently the best free social network apps include Google+ and FourSquare (out of 5 or 6 total)... seems like it may have been inactive for a while prior to this.
LWIRVoltage 5y ago
Oh no This site has been an invaluable source of actual reviews of free software, with info and vetting that you do not get- anywhere else If I was after some sort of reader , editor, or generic software, I would always go to Gizmo's- they would warn you if something was bundled if OpenCandy(and if it installed it anyway even after you declined it), how products compared, etc- And were trustworthy. With their loss, there's nothing the public can use that pre-vets software, across as many broad categories. And, knowing what to look for is important. As asking every single one of the masses to grab vmware /virtualbox + sandboxie, and then the tools to see if a program does stuff it shouldn't be anyway, while checking out every single competitor to something to see what best serves a purpose.... No, this is a very large loss for the community, and will hurt some very badly going forward...
Igelau 5y ago
I've never heard of this. I mostly use alternativeto for that kind of thing. Was this a predecessor?
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
asdefghyk 5y ago
Gizmo Richards, the site creator, retired some time ago ( Jan this year ). He was 75 when he retired. https://web.archive.org/web/20210708015622if_/https://www.techsupportalert.com/content/gizmo-retiring-gizmo-s-freeware-goes.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20210708015622if_/https://www.te... OR https://www.techsupportalert.com/content/gizmo-retiring-gizmo-s-freeware-goes.htm https://www.techsupportalert.com/content/gizmo-retiring-gizm...
- pomian 5y ago
  Thanks for that link. The original site seems to be no longer valid. I wonder if there is a copy of the operating site somewhere, with all that hard work resulting in some great software lists, reviews and summaries.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
ForeverEcho 5y ago
If you are having trouble visiting the site, or it's after July 15th 2021 then you can visit https://web.archive.org/web/20210712022605if_/https://www.techsupportalert.com/content/time-say-farewell.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20210712022605if_/https://www.te... or https://archive.ph/pLYU7 https://archive.ph/pLYU7 to read a copy of the farewell notice.
pomian 5y ago
For those who don't know, Gizmos freeware, via techsupportalert was a software test and review site, running for about(at least?) 10 years. Volunteers tested and compared hundreds of programs, on the major three platforms; Mac, Windows, Linux and submitted their reviews. It was a first class site to find software that solved complex or mundane tasks. Movie editors, web design, graphics, text or hex editors, and so on. It was a very well organized catalogue for open source software. Test results and reviews were mostly useful and helped you decide whether complexity or quick first use were more important criteria for the user. Rankings also listed whether programs were freeware, shareware, demos, or had portable install options. (And yes, in the last year, it suffered from the same fate as most of the internet, overloaded with 'extra' information. But the core was still there.) It was a goto site for many of us in the community, and will be missed.

23 points by pomian 5y ago

I believe the submitted link should point to this page: https://www.techsupportalert.com/content/time-say-farewell.htm https://www.techsupportalert.com/content/time-say-farewell.h...

kemayo 5y ago
Yeah, the submitted-link seems to be that URL... with the full text of the "goodbye" blog post appended to it. I'm kind of surprised that HN lets you store such a large URL. (Obviously URLs can be very long, technically. But.)
- remram 5y ago
  I'm more surprised that it lets you submit a 404 honestly (or that it gets upvoted)

pronoiac 5y ago

I wasn't familiar with the site, and when I clicked the Back button, or tried to go to the homepage to see what was there, I got redirected to scammy "update your Flash plugin" malware pages, so ... I'm ok with this.

pacifika 5y ago
Well it was one of the main freeware recommendation sites for windows
- musicale 5y ago
  Which means it has to be a malware site by definition? ;-)
musicale 5y ago
Whatever it once may have been, it's now apparently a malware site. I don't know whether it always was or if it was sabotaged (by its owners or by others) over the past few months, but in its current state it has negative value.

Groxx 5y ago

Browsed around briefly, and apparently the best free social network apps include Google+ and FourSquare (out of 5 or 6 total)... seems like it may have been inactive for a while prior to this.

LWIRVoltage 5y ago

Oh no This site has been an invaluable source of actual reviews of free software, with info and vetting that you do not get- anywhere else If I was after some sort of reader , editor, or generic software, I would always go to Gizmo's- they would warn you if something was bundled if OpenCandy(and if it installed it anyway even after you declined it), how products compared, etc- And were trustworthy. With their loss, there's nothing the public can use that pre-vets software, across as many broad categories. And, knowing what to look for is important. As asking every single one of the masses to grab vmware /virtualbox + sandboxie, and then the tools to see if a program does stuff it shouldn't be anyway, while checking out every single competitor to something to see what best serves a purpose.... No, this is a very large loss for the community, and will hurt some very badly going forward...

Igelau 5y ago

I've never heard of this. I mostly use alternativeto for that kind of thing. Was this a predecessor?

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

asdefghyk 5y ago

Gizmo Richards, the site creator, retired some time ago ( Jan this year ). He was 75 when he retired. https://web.archive.org/web/20210708015622if_/https://www.techsupportalert.com/content/gizmo-retiring-gizmo-s-freeware-goes.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20210708015622if_/https://www.te... OR https://www.techsupportalert.com/content/gizmo-retiring-gizmo-s-freeware-goes.htm https://www.techsupportalert.com/content/gizmo-retiring-gizm...

pomian 5y ago
Thanks for that link. The original site seems to be no longer valid. I wonder if there is a copy of the operating site somewhere, with all that hard work resulting in some great software lists, reviews and summaries.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

ForeverEcho 5y ago

If you are having trouble visiting the site, or it's after July 15th 2021 then you can visit https://web.archive.org/web/20210712022605if_/https://www.techsupportalert.com/content/time-say-farewell.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20210712022605if_/https://www.te... or https://archive.ph/pLYU7 https://archive.ph/pLYU7 to read a copy of the farewell notice.

pomian 5y ago

For those who don't know, Gizmos freeware, via techsupportalert was a software test and review site, running for about(at least?) 10 years. Volunteers tested and compared hundreds of programs, on the major three platforms; Mac, Windows, Linux and submitted their reviews. It was a first class site to find software that solved complex or mundane tasks. Movie editors, web design, graphics, text or hex editors, and so on. It was a very well organized catalogue for open source software. Test results and reviews were mostly useful and helped you decide whether complexity or quick first use were more important criteria for the user. Rankings also listed whether programs were freeware, shareware, demos, or had portable install options. (And yes, in the last year, it suffered from the same fate as most of the internet, overloaded with 'extra' information. But the core was still there.) It was a goto site for many of us in the community, and will be missed.