Thinking back on the year, the first thing that comes to my mind is the economy. It was just about a year ago when we here at the magazine really started feeling the full effects of the down market. And a whole year later, we're still standing. Unfortunately, the economy has continued to plummet sadistically, causing the technology-publishing industry to contract. Almost overnight, numerous technology magazines have vanished. What's the reason for the disappearing acts? Technology companies (or as we like to call them: advertisers) stopped spending cash because they simply had none left to spend. Technology publications live off advertising revenue, and there simply wasn't enough to go around. The law of the jungle took hold; only the strongest survived.

Some publications--including our sister publication InternetWeek--will be missed. Others got what they deserved. That statement seems pretty harsh, I know, but it doesn't make it any less true. From an editorial-content perspective, most of the now defunct books swam in the shallow end of the usefulness pool. Their content served little or no purpose in terms of solving problems for their readers. If you're not serving your readers, why in the world are all those trees dying in your service?

Through it all, Network Computing has continued to move forward as the premier product-testing and -analysis magazine in the industry. What evidence do I have to back up that claim? Flip through the pages that follow--you'll find the software, hardware and services that survived our scrutiny. Those products and their vendors are more than just an impressive list: They're a what's what and who's who of technology. Pretty much everything but the kitchen sink was tested and evaluated in our Real-World Labs® (kitchen sinks are slotted for testing in 2003).

So there's my year in review: a buddy-can-you-spare-a-dime, enough-is-enough bear market, and the continued success of Network Computing. But it's not just our success at staying afloat while others drowned that matters. And it's not just our success with product testing and evaluations. Our most important success is our ability, year after year, to remain relevant to our No. 1 asset: you. I'll hold on to that feeling of accomplishment and look ahead with hope that next year I'll be writing about positive changes in the economy (though my gut feeling is we'll still be saving our nickels and dimes) and even more success for Network Computing and our readers.