Stephen Kennedy › Likes

Nice specs... I was kinda hoping for a full frame sensor... what am I kidding myself, I ain't got the budget for a new camera! - Michael

Yay. Face recognition. I really like it on my G7. - stretta from twhirl

The 10/20/30/40/50D line will always be 1.6 crop factor. The 5D line is the full frame sensor line. - stretta from twhirl

April 5th 2009 PMA. http://pma-rumours.blogspot.com/2008... - Russellreno

Canon DSLR with IS. How will they sell there expensive lenses. Hope it is true but I cant afford to upgrade anyway. - CJPhoto

Still waiting for 5D successor, I want full frame sensor as well. - jcunwired

I haven't seen the mention of IS in the camera, and as others have suggested, Canon already sells a lot of expensive lenses with IS, and may therefore be reluctant to put it in the body. - Dave Roth

There are some good, technical reasons for IS to live in the lens, not the body. That aside, I don't see canon moving IS to the body without also moving to a totally new mount (and series of lenses). - stretta from twhirl

Seems cool. And it will be interesting to see the 5D successor as well. But me, my 5D is only 7 months old... I'll use it 'till it croaks. - Tom Harrison

The in body IS was a translation error. They were talking about lens IS compatibility. - John Ford

I'm disappointed to see that it has more megapixels on the same size sensor. - TranceMist

so far its only Vista and XP, but mobile devices will be added in the future. Starting with the Windows Mobile platform first. I bet if you hack away at it now you can get it to work. If i can hit my corporate servers from my current phone (8525), there is no reason why a simple implementation of this would not work now. - Carlos Ayala

I was mildly disappointed it doesn't yet have a MAC version as I am having some problems with Foldershare there and was hoping this would be a good replacement. - Robert Gable

The full story is on RWW: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archive... - Sarah Perez

Robert - it blows Foldershare out of the water, I wouldn't be surprised to see Foldershare discontinued, actually. Mac should be coming really soon now - I've already seen video of it running on a Mac - Sarah Perez

While I really like Mesh, I hope Foldershare does not go away. The other day foldershare came in handy when I was at a client site and needed a doc from desktop that was in a folder that was not a part of the mesh. In addition I didn't want to remote in to get it either. Mesh is great and I am imprewssed by it but at least I can run Foldershare on my Macbook Pro and it allows me to take it on calls occaisionally instead of my Windows laptop. - Stephen Kennedy from twhirl

Thomas, the Drobo 2.0 looks great, but did they mention when we might see a unit with integrated ethernet? That is really what is stopping them from getting my $$$. Nice post. - Jordan

Jordan haven't heard anything about ethernet. - Thomas Hawk

When on earth are they gonna add GigE on this and finally make it useful? NAS is far more useful than DAS. :( - Don MacAskill

the ethernet connection is named droboshare, but on version 1.0, does not have good reviews: http://tinyurl.com/67wq2p - hector juarez

Thanks for sharing Thomas! I was really hoping they were going to upgrade the DroboShare as well. Seems that the USB connection between the share and the Drobo itself would be a bottleneck (though I am speaking out of ignorance as I don't have one). - Justin Korn

Can someone explain to me whey you don't need 1:1 drive space for replication? I'm a total ignoramus in this area. Thanks! - Matt

Matt: Read this about RAID (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki...) - Justin Korn

Now if only they could make it more affordable for the rest of us. - cecily

Ok, thanks! So based off that, the Drobo is essentially a RAID 5 array wherein any one disk can fail and data be retained. Thomas said, "four 750GB hard drives in a Drobo gives you effectively 2TB of replicated storage". I assume that calculation is 4 x 750GB = 3TB x 3/4 = 2.25TB. That's pretty cool. Sorry I'm such a RAID moron. I'm one of those guys that's been hoping his hard drives don't fail (until I signed up for Amazon S3 last week). - Matt

Matt: No worries. I *think* Drobo does something similar to RAID 5, but not exactly since, with the Drobo, you are able to use different size drives. Technically, with RAID 5 you can only use the the same size drives or else the larger drives will not be used to their full capacity. - Justin Korn

Okay, i understand the need of backup and so I solved a small Math Problem. If one has two hard drives (in my personal case my MBPs hard drive and a WD MyBook, my backup) each with a Million Hours as the MTBF and 3% as the AFR (most claim 1% but CMU says 2 to 4%; so I'm taking 3). These figures give me - assuming a Gaussian Curve for the MTBF - insignificant probability that both the drives will fail simultaneously. Aren't 8 discs (in 2 Drobos) seriously Over-kill? The probability will never be zero anyways - Parth Awasthi

Parth, yes, it's probably pretty likely that 8 drives in 2 drobos won't fail. But don't forget about the probability of things like getting robbed or having your house burn down. By keeping one drobo at your home and another offsite somewhere you seriously diminish risk by theft, fire, natural disaster, etc. - Thomas Hawk

@ Parth: Thomas is a Photographer. Each one of those thousands of images are unique - will never happen again quite simply becuase we can't travel back in time. In a word, they are priceless. Is 8 drives overkill, probably. Piece of mind? Priceless. (with thanks to Mastercard for the phrasing :) ) - Roberto Bonini

Thomas: I Understand completely the reason for distributing them in two places. my point of over kill was 8 drives; probabilistically speaking, we are good with two drives over two physical locations. Again, just a thought; by no means questioning your backup suggestion. Roberto: Agreed, peace of mind over all else; I understand the value of each of those brilliant shots of his, totally agree that it is only natural to desire as many measures as possible for safety. - Parth Awasthi

I'm getting one also. - Alexandru Savu

Vaguely annoyed because I bought a Drobo the day before this came out. Annoyed that the sales rep hasn't managed to get back to me in two days, but I understand. Would be extremely annoyed if I couldn't return my still-unopened Drobo 1.0, since it was still in the mail when they came out with the new one. - Ryan Brenizer

Still no XP64 support - ThePicMan

RAID helps improve reliability but does not address recoverability should one entire Drobo fail. That's how I usually make the distinction to people. - Jauder Ho

@Thomas, with you storing your photos in RAW, how full is your Drobo? How many are you going to need for a million images? - Bryan Clark

I'm glad you saw this Chris, now you really know why I called you up to tell you how Canadians are not going to bother with the iPhone nor Rogers! - Michael Forian

Sucks. I'm on Rogers. :( - AJ Batac

Maybe the iPhone can be a positive thing to consumers to bring notice and hopefully positive change to the corrupt and greedy cell phone companies like Rogers. If I lived in Canada I definitely would not be buying an iPhone. Those plans are outlandish. :( - Chris Rodgers

Chris -- http://www.ruinediphone.com/ - johnpiercy

http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008... - johnpiercy

I'm on Fido with an iPhone, which is owned by Rogers. My current plan is decent, but without unlimited data, the iPhone 3G loses its appeal entirely. - Granteezy

I agree with Granteezy. Will stick with my Blacberry Curve until I see the BB Bold. Then I will decide. Rogers data plans don't look to appealing. - Stephen Kennedy from twhirl

Thanks for the links fotographic. This is exactly what I mean about the iPhone. I hope this creates a stir and people leave Rogers or really show their disgust with the cell plans and not buy the iPhone. - Chris Rodgers

Thanks for the info. I will hold off getting the iPhone, as much as I really would like to have one. I presently own Apple's touch, so I will console myself with the features it has and use my conventional smart phone. - Nellie Root

I am an iphone user in Canada. I was eagerly waiting for the 3g iphone - even at this moment, I am tempted to get it irrespective of how ridiculously priced the plans are but I won't because I don't like being taken for granted and also, if I got for it, I am basically vountarily lowering my pants, bending over and asking Rogers to go for it - and do the same to others... - Kamath (नमः)

gee I've only been saying this since Rogers first announced they were going tobe selling the iPhone but that doesn't change the fact the Bell would have done the same thing if they were selling it. - Steven Hodson

This is a shame, Canadians are robbed with mobile phones. I hope this will make them realize it 'cause they don't seem to be aware. - Oli Kenobi

I had high hopes for the iPhone in Canada -- http://tinyurl.com/6ea2rp -- but with no unlimited data I'll pass and go for a Nokia E71 instead... - Andrew Currie

Pretty Interesting Story - and when I was in Toronto recently, I saw how "money grubbing" Rogers Communications is. Makes you wonder how much bandwidth your consuming when you download anything? Does the iPhone tell you when your approaching your limit, according to the plan your subscribed to? I hope so. - Marshall Sponder

http://getthefactsonrogersiphone.com/ - johnpiercy

I won't be. Not with those plans. I'll be getting a BBerry Bold instead. - Duarte from twhirl

Im sticking to my BB curve and $15.00 unlimited email for now - johnpiercy from twhirl

Plans are way too expensive and I got a new phone ealier this year so I'm not even allowed to get it at 199 :( - Ray Slakinski from twhirl

I totally agree with Becca - Scott Wamsley

But the question is ought it be Flickr's job to try to design their system and police those who use their API? Should flickr be required to monitor every single API key for copyright enforcement? Some use the API for personal tools, others use it for commercial purposes. My own feeling is that Flickr should not have to play the role of copyright police -- that misuse of imagery ought to be between a photographer and the offending party. - Thomas Hawk

I'm not familiar with Flickr's API, but I imagine it's pretty easy to retrieve the license data for each image. If so, the responsibility rests solely on the API consumer to make sure what they're doing with the images is legit. I suppose if Flickr really wanted to be proactive about it, they could provide a "Don't expose my images through the API" option. No one would ever see those pictures again, but at least the copyright would be slightly more secure. - James (@willia4)

James, Flickr already has a way for users to opt out of the API if they want. If people are that concerned about misuse then I think it is their responsibility to opt out, not Flickr's responsibility to play copyright police. You can opt in/out of the API on Flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/account... - Thomas Hawk

Ok. Then I don't understand the problem. Flickr's already giving their users the the tools to keep their photos from showing up in random API places. There's nothing to see here. Move along. - James (@willia4)

Becca, this is the whole point of this discussion. If you tag your images with a specific copyright, legally that should be honored by all who want to use that image. - Jeff P. Henderson

I'd be interested to know if policing the use of the API changes Flickr's liability in regard to safe harbor? Do they move from being not responsible for how people may misuse copyright of photos that happen to be hosted on Flickr, to being liable for that misuse? If they do, I can see why they would not get involved with policing the API - Mike McBride

Right, flickr gives you both the option to block your images from external search and API, and the option to allow the programs *you want* to access your files through your API key, I don't see a big issue aside from the fact that those options aren't made more clear to new users and/or asking users to set them as part of the setup process. On top of that, you can choose who can/cannot see certain sized files of yours. All the tools are in place, it's whether/how you use them or not. - cmiper

I don't think that Flickr should have to play copyright police and monitor all usage for their API for violation, and the courts would most likely uphold this as they have with ISP's liability for people distributing copyrighted music over their networks. But it seems that they might be able to rewrite the API to plug the holes or make it easier for programmers to abide by the rules. This might fall under the category of being a good citizen on the net. - Jeff P. Henderson

@cmiper That is good information. I will look into how this all works. It is definitely not clear to most users that they have an option to control how their images are seen/used and by whom. If this is the case then Jim's original issue is really a non issue, and he just need to configure Flicker to function to meet his copyright needs. - Jeff P. Henderson

Part of the problem Jeff might be that Jim doesn't want to totally opt out of the API. For instance. He might enjoy that people can see his photos in PicLens or Flickrleech or other apps (or maybe not), but wants to restrict it to other companies. Much of the API use is not dependent on individual permission given to approved apps. Still, I think if it matters that much to someone that they should just opt out entirely. - Thomas Hawk

An API white-list doesn't seem like it'd be worth implementing. I'm sure the VAST majority of Flickr's users wouldn't ever use it, if only because most of us (myself included) just don't take very good or interesting pictures. I'm not really worried about someone stealing the snapshot I made of my mom's dog, after all. If I really cared, I'd get my pics off flickr and on to my own server and do white-listing with .htaccess files. Not that anyone would go to the trouble of accessing my site then. - James (@willia4)

@Jeff - you can block API/search here http://flickr.com/account... You can control what scripts/programs you want to have access through your API here http://flickr.com/service... you can set who has access to your larger sized photos here http://flickr.com/account... - cmiper

@cmiper, Thanks for posting the links! - Jeff P. Henderson

Thomas, I think you left out some key information. Flickr allows you to mark your photos as to whether you're willing to share them or not, but the API disregards that information. While you may be perfectly willing to let someone else profit from your photos, others may not. My view follows what Becca wrote. If Flickr's API followed the same rules as it sets for a person viewing photos on their site, this would not be an issue. That's the key issue as I see it. - William Beem

@James - Why should I have to deactivate a useful feature just because one vendor broke the rules? Perhaps I want to use BigHugeLabs.com or Moo.com to access my Flickr photos and provide a service, but I don't want them sold without providing me any notice or income. I don't like being used. - William Beem

William, see my comment above, you have to OPT IN to use those services, which you do through YOUR API key. Blocking unauthorized access through API/search does not affect this. - cmiper

@William - Why should Flickr have to spend development, QA, localization, maintenance, and documentation resources implementing an API white-list feature because one vendor broke the rules? And why would anyone put their pictures on the Internet if they really cared about people copying them? Once it's on the Internet, that's it. Game over. It's going to be copied and shared and ripped-off if it's any good. Period. I just don't see how this is Flickr's responsibility. - James (@willia4)

So...you would be perfectly happy if they just removed the license information? ::shrugs:: I'd rather they didn't, personally. - James (@willia4)

Unbelievable! Why should Flickr make it's own API follow its own rules? I'm stunned that you would even ask that question. This isn't so much about Flickr being a copyright cop as it is about Flickr being consistent between its presentation and its API. - William Beem

If you folks would click on "Show XX more comments" above, you would see that you can OPT OUT of access to your photos through the API except for third party apps that you authorize to have access to them. The tools are there, if you don't use them then they are useless. - cmiper

Why should people not have the benefit of the Flickr API just because someone abuses it? That's just punishing the people who don't abuse it because of the actions of a handful who do. - Ian Betteridge from twhirl

The API is just a data layer. It's not supposed to follow the rules of the presentation layer. That's why the API lets people do so many cool things: by not having the restrictions of the web page. This is just another one of those things; it seems to be the only one anyone's up in arms about. And I can't see a good solution that wouldn't also remove the desired functionality of sites like moo.com. So...what's the better idea? - James (@willia4)

The "better idea" is to improve the API. - William Beem

So just because I don't mark my picture as CC, I'm not allowed to make a Moo card with it? See, if they did THAT, I'd agree that they obviously don't care about their users. - James (@willia4)

Irony: Andrew Feinberg was giving me a bunch of crap about how secure Flickr was with regards to this in this thread over here: http://friendfeed.com/e... - Kirk Kittell

I think it would be handy if Flickr would provide me the ability to see who accesses my photos through the API and how the photos are used. That way policing my copyrights is in my hands and not in the hands of some programming logic. Don't forget that Flickr was designed to share and distribute images widely. Don't be surprised when they get out. If you that concerned with protecting you work, use PhotoShelter or similar service that is designed for controlled distribution instead of Flickr. - Aaron Schaub from fftogo

If Flickr API allows others to sell your photos when you dont want them to, Flickr should stop it. - CJPhoto

For people saying that you should not post pictures if you do not want them stolen, replace photos as a medium with a different medium say text or video. The same problem applies and with those mediums, there seems to be far more outcry when content is stolen rather than the cavalier attitude towards stolen photos. I would hate to see DRM become the norm for pictures but there needs to be respect for copyright along with proper attribution. - Jauder Ho

Flickr needs to do the right thing here and enforce licenses as part of fetching images via RSS and the API. - Jauder Ho

I find your view surprising Tom. It's NOT OK for someone to infringe your right to take photos but IT IS OK for someone to infringe your rights to use your work with out consent. If the later doesn't matter why would the former? I am not asking Flickr to police copyrights I am asking Flickr to abide by their end of our agreement. I have not given them blanket permission to distribute my... more... - Jim Goldstein

I am also torn by this article. I am in the midst of researching if it is worth attempting to sell some of my photos to be able to invest and feed my hobby. I don't think this is a bad thing, and if I were selling my photos I definitely would want to make sure they were protected in fairness to those who paid for it. This is assuming I can get people to pay for my bad photos of course. =) - Alex Almeida

I've got to hand it to you, RS. You got me out of a Halo game to come onto FriendFeed looking for a conversation RE: this blog post that showed up via Growl via Reader Notifier. I would really love to see some Photosynth fruition (the MS Photosynth team was in the art gallery my wife works at in Pioneer Square, Seattle recently). But Microsoft may also be pushing for buzz after the Google + Yahoo! search integration for .SWFs. We shall see. - Brian Monzingo

I don't think Microsoft can "capture" anything right now. Maybe scoop up a little market share here and there. I attended a focus group in Mountain View with web and graphic designers and they were asking us, in essence, about why our loyalties lay here or there regarding the design software we used. We did not find out until 2/3 through that the group was hosted by Microsoft for their Expression designer software. No one in the room felt compelled enough to switch the tools they were using for MS. - Adam Helweh

wonder why they didn't invite me? :( give 'em a lil hell for me pls.... - kk+

Kris: they should have invited you. I'll give them hell. - Robert Scoble

Why should companies who want to adopt Silverlight have to give up Photoshop? That would be the dumbest move MS could make. If MS wants to promote Silverlight development it better make it read PS files and not require another tool that no one will use. And is there such a strong connection between Flash and PS? If so, I don't see it. Sure, they can read one another's files but that's pretty much it. PS is used by every professional designer and photographer 'cause it's the best. Flash integration or not. - Ole Begemann

Give up Photoshop to adopt Silverlight? Not necessary at all. You give up Flash to use Silverlight, not Photoshop. - Yuvi

Good luck with the Photoshop market. Lightroom and Aperture are growing too. I look forward to hearing what they are doing though. - Andrew Smith

Photographers, like many media users, have long been heavy Mac users, guess what these tools don't support :-) - Duncan Riley

I look forward to attending myself and getting to meet tons of uber-cool photographers. :-) - Brandon LeBlanc

I don't know if this is just me but the Microsoft brand has been a big disappointment to me as of late. Their is really nothing that Microsoft can do in any market to make me as a consumer pay attention. - Chris Rodgers

This isn't the first photography summit that Microsoft has held. I attended one back in ~2004. It was run by a pro-photography/videography team under the CTO. Lots of good feedback (color control in printing sucks, Word sucks for real publishing) but it wasn't clear if any of it was acted on. The thing to look for is if the people you are talking to have any real connection to the products you are commenting out. With all of the Expression products, perhaps things are different now. - Joe Beda

If the Yahoo! deal could go ahead Microsoft would end up having the cherry on the top with Flickr - João Almeida

I'm really looking forward to hearing the conference as well as meeting alot of the other photographers attending. The agenda for the conference looks pretty interesting. - Thomas Hawk

Is this a closed event Robert/Thomas? I'll be here in Seattle till Thursday, when I fly down to SFO. - Brian Daniel Eisenberg

Brian, I think it is invite only. - Thomas Hawk

I tried to look at Pro Photo Tools several months back, the problem? No 64-bit support. I look again today, still no 64-bit support. I don't think they can be taken seriously in this space without supporting higher end machines. - Neil

Thanks Thomas. Sadly I'm going to miss your Pike Place Photowalk as I'll be in SFO for the weekend. Next time! - Brian Daniel Eisenberg

interesting point about no 64-bit support Neil. I'm surprised actually as I'd think this would be a push for MSFT. - Thomas Hawk

I don't think msft is too worried about 64bit much until more driver makers are onboard. Chicken and egg in the backwards world of windows. - mjc

Michael: That might have been true a while ago, but I have a desktop and a laptop running 64-bit with full driver support. The only compat issues I have are applications. Either way MS should be leading the way toward full 64-bit support if they want the hardware manufactures to follow suit. I think they should provide a timeline for when they think it'll have 64-bit support, it'd make it seem like they are going to address it. - Neil

Robert, when you guys going to be in Redmond? - John Barker

Robert/Thomas, you guys have fun up there. Say hello to Tim Grey for me. And go by to see the Art Wolfe Gallery. I didn't get to see it when I was there last time but Tim said to make a special effort to see it next time. - Johnny Sewell

I'll be there Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday afternoon. The show is Wednesday and Thursday. Thomas will be there longer. I have to get back, unfortunately, so won't be able to stay for the photowalking. - Robert Scoble

Robert - are you and Rocky flying up? If you have any free time, you should take Rocky to Wade's and check out their S&W 500. I'd happily meet up w. u guys. - Brian Daniel Eisenberg

Nope, just me. Rocky is still trying to catch up after our DC trip. I might have noon on Tuesday free, if we want to get a lunch together. Want to meet up at Crossroads in Bellevue? - Robert Scoble

I tried MS Pro Photo Tools tonight. App crashed while saving the first JPG after geotagging it. I'm done. - Aaron B. Hockley

@robert - tuesday noon @ crossroads works for me. I sent a TXT to your 425 number. I'm sure I can rally some local tweeps... - Brian Daniel Eisenberg

Hey Don, Twip podcast ( www.twipphoto.com) just mentioned SmugMug last week with regards to the shopping cart. Surely this is one way Smugmug is better than Flickr (I'm thinking of Twitter vs FF too much)!!! - Roberto Bonini

Flickr has the largest collection of tagged and organized photos that has ever existed in the world. There is incredible power in this organization that people have yet to even comprehend. I would consider them the most successful photo-sharing site on the web... even if Zooomr is cool too. ;) - Thomas Hawk

Metric: Silicon Valley mindshare. People can't say "share photos" without the words "on flickr." On TC photo-sharing sites are judged by how quickly the reviewer can find those features that mimic flickr's. - Bruce Lewis

@Matthew Freeman: Just be clear, SmugMug doesn't belong in that category, either. Other companies have much larger photo repositories than Flickr (and way larger than us) and have made more money than Flickr (or us). This isn't SmugMug vs Flickr (and it almost never is) - it's about Flickr not being "the most successful" in any sense of the word. - Don MacAskill

@Thomas Hawk: I'm sorry, but the WSJ or New York Times or Fortune magazine - you know, the people who define success in this business - wouldn't use "largest collection of tagged and organized photos" as a measure of success when using the word "most". It's awesome, and useful, but "most"? Come on. - Don MacAskill

@Bruce Lewis: Silicon Valley mindshare is hardly a useful barometer either. Adoption and financial success are the two typically used and well-understood metrics (and they're often at odds with each other, at least initially) - and Flickr doesn't match up to either. - Don MacAskill

Hey, you asked which metric, not which useful metric. :-) - Bruce Lewis

@Bruce Lewis: Touche. ;) - Don MacAskill

Don, which photosharing site would you say would be the "most successful" in terms of adoption? Which in terms of financial success? My guess is that if all of the photo sharing sites out there were independent and all went public at the same time that Flickr would fetch the highest price in the public markets. - Thomas Hawk

As sad as it is to measure a site this way... my mom knows what flickr is (although she still complains about the missing 'e') - Johnny Worthington

Actually Thomas, I would guess that Facebook has the largest collection of tagged images and would probably fetch the highest price. Entertaining discussion and as a founder of the original (Webshots) I am also a user of Flickr, paying customer for Smugmug, and also post to Facebook ;-) - Narendra

I'm not sure that the quality of the images on Facebook are in the same league as Flickr. Also, seems like Flickr has been around several more years than Facebook and it's reason for existence is photos, where Facebook's primary function is not necessarily photo sharing, more like vanity. So I'd bet that Flickr has more total photos and definitely more quality photos. - Jeff P. Henderson

@Jeff: Facebook limits the maximum length of an image to 604 pixels and they aren't keyword searchable. The biggest problem when discussing this type of thing is we are all way ahead of the curve with these sites. The general population are only still just getting digital cameras and haven't got the notion of sharing them online. We are still in very early days and to declare a winner now would be foolish. - Johnny Worthington

You're probably right about Facebook having the largest collection of tagged images Narendra, but they are not organized nearly as effectively as Flickr. More than just tagging flickr ranks, coordinates geotags, etc. But photo sharing is only a portion of Facebook. Facebook would be better compared to Yahoo which also has a portion of their company (Flickr) serving photos. - Thomas Hawk

The biggest problem with Facebook photos is I have 4,500+ images on there but at best could only expect 100-200 people to ever see. Plus the fact you have to already be a Facebook memeber kills the chances of my parents or relatives ever seeing them. I have slowly being uploading to Flickr but it is by no means perfect. I have a list of at least 10 features I would love to see (first of which is black screen version). I can give someone my flickr address and they can see all my images straight away. - Johnny Worthington

@Thomas Hawk: Flickr has high quality photos, no-one's doubting that. But if that were the metric, Annie Leibowitz' personal site would be "most successful" or something. As far as adoption, there are lots that outstrip it: WebShots, Kodak, Photobucket, ImageShack, Facebook, etc. Financial too: Photobucket sold for $300M, Shutterfly had succesful IPO, Facebook's photo sharing piece is clearly valuable, etc etc. It's just a bad characterization for a great site. - Don MacAskill

So what site has best combination of images, users, quality, community, finacial stability, user-based finacial oppertunity and (general population) brand awareness? - Johnny Worthington

John -- you say only 200 people can see your images -- are you sure? -- Facebook has a feature/hole that lets anybody see them - http://radio.weblogs.com/0127028... - Brian Sullivan

@John I started posting to Facebook for dance-friends, but it was too hard for dancers to signup, so I moved to Picasa. I'm reconsidering & wondering what to post to Flickr and what to Picasa. - Mitchell Tsai

@John Worthington: I question whether we're that far ahead of the curve. That we pigeonhole all photo-centric sites into one category shows how primitive our thinking is. Imagine a discussion about which is a better text-sharing site, craigslist or friendfeed. Discussing which of flickr or smugmug is the better photo-sharing site is almost as nonsensical. It depends what you want to do with your photos. - Bruce Lewis

@Bruce My point was that we are discussing this topic in a closed enviroment. Go to any local supermarket and ask random people where they would put thier photos online. I bet you the default reaction would be "Why would I do that?". The question of who is the most successful (not the best) has not even begun to be decided. My mum (50ish, love ya mum) knows about Flickr cause I showed her my stuff. She then sent the link to my sister and she was "What's Flickr"? Until the general public 'switches on'.... - Johnny Worthington

And anyway, the article said 'most successful' not best. - Johnny Worthington