News Blog

Dan Heller, author of the Photography Business Blog and a longtime watcher of the idea of selling photos on the Internet, observed Tuesday that there's "low-level buzz about Flickr possibly getting into the stock photo business." He concludes, "For Flickr to do it is obvious. Not doing so while they are on top of the game would be suicide."

It's an interesting possibility. With some tweaks to the Web site and an opt-in check box on the image upload page, Yahoo and Flickr photographers could begin selling images to the sorts of folks who need to buy stock art--newspapers, PowerPoint presenters, brochure authors, advertising agencies. All Flickr's metadata and relevance sorting could be converted into a revenue stream shared between Yahoo and the photographers--the practice Getty Images subsidiary iStockphoto uses.

But it's not that simple. For one thing, those who consume stock photos often have different appetites than Flickr members. Stock photo customers generally have little patience with cluttered images, artsy compositions and cell phone shots of friends at the party. Compare the Flickr vs. iStockphoto search results for Valentine's Day, for example. Stock photo customers also often need illustrations for relatively mundane subject matter--for example, they'll consume a seemingly infinite number of pictures of people in business-casual attire sitting in front of computers.

Flickr has a vast collection, though, so it's likely the right image is there if it can be found, and some budget-conscious buyers probably are willing to endure lower search relevance in return for lower price. And the profit motive could encourage Flickr users to adapt to stock photo demands. And even if the right image isn't always there, Flickr could presumably satisfy people's needs some of the time, likely at a cheaper price tag, just as iStockphoto has provided new lower-cost options to traditional stock photo shops such as Getty and Corbis.

But the bigger challenge is intellectual property. iStockphoto, for example, requires users to verify they hold copyright to the images they upload, prohibits visible logos or trademarks, and requires anyone whose face is visible to sign a model release form permitting iStockphoto to sell their likeness. And the company scrutinizes every photo it receives.

What's the likelihood that Yahoo could afford to vet every image Flickr users upload with the option to sell? They could leave the initiative to intellectual property holders themselves, but that approach isn't as likely to sit well with those who want stronger assurances before buying images.

The open-source programming movement prides itself on giving people control over their own computers.

So why is it that even in the latest version of Linux I've been trying, Novell's Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop 10, clicking the Close button in the upper-right corner of the GAIM instant-messenger software only minimizes the program?

It's not just GAIM, the default IM client software for GNOME. Kopete, the client for the rival KDE user interface software project, exhibits the same behavior.

This program behavior has always bothered me with Windows-based IM software, such as AIM and Yahoo Messenger. But why have Linux developers taken their cue from corporate interests that want to maximize their users' availability for online chatting?

Maybe there's a check box hidden somewhere that I'm missing. Or maybe I should quit whining, modify the source code and recompile my own version. Or file a gripe in a bugzilla database. While I'm failing to get around to that sort of constructive activity, though, I'd welcome an explanation as to why one category of software is permitted to violate otherwise-consistent user-interface guidelines to what happens when I click that little "X" button.

It's unfortunate for the Mambo open-source publishing software project and for its customers that its developers had to decamp with their source code to start the Joomla project, according to a high-ranking IBM software executive.

"It does look like the company that was shepherding this along got a little bit off track on their interests vs. the open-source community's interests," said Rod Smith, vice president of emerging Internet technology for IBM's Software Group, in an interview Tuesday. "That's a bad thing," because Mambo had a lot of traction, and the "fork" undermines that, he said.

Corporate customers dislike such conflicts, Smith said. "They're not scared of open-source software. But what they are scared of is what just happened to Mambo," he said. "If it blows up on them, they might have to do a lot of rework."

Joomla appears to have inherited the momentum, though, said David Boloker, chief technology officer of the IBM group. "The community shifted--I won't say overnight, but much faster than I thought," he said.

Smith also praised AJAX, technology that brings a richer user interface to Web browsers through browsers' JavaScript abilities.

"We like AJAX," Smith said. "I think Google Maps put it on everybody's' radar scope, and a company called Zimbra has a nice toolkit. We think over time there's going to be some momentum growing around that."

Yahoo's new Web-based e-mail software, based on technology the company got when it acquired Oddpost, uses AJAX, added David Boloker, chief technology officer of the Emerging Internet Technology Group. The new mail software is under development.

AJAX's Achilles heel today is that it's technically difficult to program in, Smith said, despite the fact that there are more than 30 different programming toolkits available. "It is not for people who are not JavaScript-experienced. It is difficult. There are some things we think need to be done around tooling to make it easier for developers."

AJAX will help reclaim ground that was lost when browsers became common, Smith said. "When browser came out, we took three steps backward in the user interface," but what the industry lost in user interface it gained in the spread of technology. I think ajax can go quite a ways. It'll take some fancy footwork and good tooling, and I don't think it's going to be a quantum step forward, but it'll be a good step forward," Smith said.