Gone Gamma

Flickr , the self-described coolest photo sharing site in all of creation has declared itself now in Gamma , status. This follows a period that saw many site functionality improvements, a Yahoo buy in, and an explosion of users. The developers have wisely kept themselves out of a numbers game in the face of the proliferation of photo sharing sites, some of a flavor distinctly different from Flickr, any others pathetic rip offs, devoid of useful features and any sign of community.

Not to say Flickr is perfect. One need only examine the rapidly lengthening threads in various forums to read of much dissent from the recent site changes. This happens every time the Flickrati decide to alter anything. I take it in stride - the entire project is still very much in development, and can do an amazing number and variation of things no other site centered around photography can do. I've found a place to extend my interest in photography, not only through uploading my own, but perusing the works of others by swinging my way through the endless vines attached to the infinite number of trees in the Flickr forest. It is possible to begin in one place and wind up many place otherwise not found except by choosing to peruse those photos "favorited" by a contact, or randomly entering phrases into the Tag search boxes and seeing what is returned.

I use a lot of the online offerings from Google , despite the cries of data mining and world information domination. Google is attempting to develop ever changing ways to deal with rapidly growing amounts and types of digital information (and analog too, if you consider the book projects), and most importantly, the relationships between bits of data indexed.

Beyond their stated mission, Google has wisely allowed individual employees and teams considerable leeway when it comes to project concepts, trial testing and sometimes, a public release. The latter often infuriates computer "experts" and avid participants of computer forums all across the Web. The complaint is that Google is basically releasing unfinished software and allowing the world to beta test it for them.

True.

This is compared by critics to Microsoft's sorry track record when it comes to developing and releasing newer versions of its' Windows Operating System. True, MS does usually release the latest Windows version knowing a billion bugs would pop up, other software would break and it would take the company months and even years to make major fixes in the form of Service Packs, which carry their own built in fuck ups.

I find the comparison between software written by a for profit company but released for free and not required in order for your computer to function to an entire operating system that is released as a finished product for a fat fee when it is clearly still quite broken absurd, and reeking of a particularly foul strand of sour grapes. Google responds over time to the millions of suggestions made about each of it's software offerings, improving and experimenting with new features, some of which don't stick if user feedback is overwhelmingly negative. The chronic state of "beta-ness" allows for this.

By contrast, Flickr offered limited free user account next to pair annual user accounts which offered considerably more storage and other features. Buying a pro account back then was a bit of a gamble - none of us had any clear idea if the site would still be around three months down the road or if our money and uploaded pictures would all be gone one morning. Flickr survived, was bought by Yahoo, and is still cool, a small miracle considering who bought it.


Not sure what the point of any of this ramble is except to say to those who obsess over every Gmail detail or an entire site re-rendering at Flickr - remain calm. A few days down the line and you'll have adjusted to the alterations, incorporated those you have use for into your routine and discarded those that prove personally worthless. In some cases, new features that totally suck will die a quiet death, and a very brief moment of reflection will have you wondering why you were so wound up in the first place. :)