Flickr to Grant Commercial API Key to Competitors

eobanb writes "The Yahoo-owned photo sharing site Flickr has come under fire recently for the perceived 'lock-in' that their API creates. Flickr's terms of service state clearly that all photos uploaded to Flickr by users are owned by their respective users, yet Flickr's API only allows uploading, not exporting. Surprisingly, Flickr developer Stewart Butterfield posted in the thread on Flickr: "I actually had a change of heart and was convinced by Eric's position that we definitely should approve requests from direct competitors as long as they do the same. That means (a) that they need to have a full and complete API and (b) be willing to give us access." This means that users will soon be able to freely move data between different photo-sharing sites, like Zooomr (which has already implemented the Flickr API), Google PicasaWeb, 23hq, or Tabblo."

Comments

Web 2.0, finally

[Peturrr]

Great!

Here we finally see the big move happening that's the real mark between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0!
No more individual sites, where your data resides, but interchangebility between websites without all the hassles.

I think lots of other services will follow this example because the resulting freedom will definately be missed when has been tasted somewhere. In the next few weeks I expect to see a lot of other companies open up their API's to allow the same kind of data sharing.
Yes, I am very excited!

Next step will be the availabilty of this extended API for every normal user, so they have real freedom. But that will probably take a year or even longer.

Great, while it lasts

[a16]

Currently I'd say the really defining aspect of "Web 2.0" is be super friendly and offer everything you possibly can, just to get the biggest community and hopefully sell it, or advertise to it.

You may note from my URL that I run a "competing" image hosting site, and have been for years - before these new guys were all around. You'll also notice that we offer the grand total of 1mb of free storage on free accounts (although this will be increasing in the next few months for the first time in years), and yet we have over 23,000 users. But we simply can't compete with Flickr/Google/any Venture Capital backed outfit.

However, we're proudly "Web 1.0" in terms of we're backed by real money and if something is going to cost us more than it will generate to keep the service running, it won't get added. Contrast this with the Web 2.0 method of offering everything under the sun, and you may think I'm nuts. But how long does everyone really think these "unlimited" feature sites are going to be around for? When the Venture Capital finally runs out, it'll be the old Web 1.0 sites that remain. Youtube and flickr etc. are costing hundreds of thousands of dollars per week, or even day, just to maintain - and they generate no income. Some of us have been here and seen all this before.

I am sure I'll be modded down on this however, because as a user there has never been a better time to use the web. You can get whatever you want for free, people are fighting to offer you the greatest services that they can all at no cost - and now for you to be able to move elsewhere if you want to. It's also a great time to be a Web 2.0 startup and become a millionaire from venture capital. I just wonder how long all this will last :)

Re:Can't export? Since when?

[Pink Tinkletini]

Here's a bookmarklet that gives you the full-size original photo: "Get Flickr Original."

javascript:%20for(%20i%20in%20global_photos%20)%20
{%20p%20=%20global_photos[i];%20}%20window.locatio
n%20=%20'http://static.flickr.com/'%20+%20p.server
%20+%20'/'%20+%20p.id%20+%20'_'%20+%20p.secret%20+
%20'_o.jpg';

Remove the linebreaks (inserted to get around Slashcode-enforced spacing) and you're set. Works in Safari, and I'm assuming Firefox and Opera as well.

The API and licence agreement war

[Lord Satri]

This is very interesting. An important part of the "web-mapping war" relates to two important characteristics: (1) how the API are complete and easy to use and what's the licence, and (2) how well Yahoo!, Google, Microsoft, Ask, etc. successfully integrates many services together. It is not only about satellite imagery resolution, it's also about the API and licenses and services integration.

About the new commercial use for Yahoo! Maps and API (from slashgeo):
" Yahoo! Maps now allowing commercial use. From Yahoo!: "Until today, the APIs were available only for non-commercial use unless you applied for an exception. The concept of commercial and non-commercial has gone away and exceptions are no longer necessary in most cases. We have given you explicit Usage Policies to help guide you. Whether on your business website, blog or personal site, you no longer have to ask for permission." There's also a new Official Yahoo! Maps blog "

But that's not the end. Starting this week, the new Google Earth licence does not allow you to install Google Earth at work at all, even for personal use. Again from slashgeo:
"The Ogle Earth blog indicates that if you use Google Earth at work (the free version), you're in illegality. From the site: "1. USE OF SOFTWARE The Software is made available to you for your personal, non-commercial use only. You may not use the Software or the geographical information made available for display using the Software, or any prints or screen outputs generated with the Software in any commercial or business environment or for any commercial or business purposes for yourself or any third parties. "

Oh yeah, and unrelated to the story but still very interesting, you can geocode your Picasa photos using Google Earth. I'll stop there. See my sig to learn more ;-)

Re:Can't export? Since when?

[Vengeance_au]

Even better - i host pics, email and blogs for about 25 close friends and family members on a $10usd/mo plan. Everyone gets a bunch of email addresses, space aplenty to share their family pics, and all I ask them is they buy me a beer or two whenever I catch up with them. Total outlay for me? $120 + about 1/2 an hour showing people how to use the admin panel I set up for them. Benefit to me? About 5-8 beers month on average, and I would have been paying for the hosting just to have my website up anyway. Oh, and as an IT guy the site is a tax deduction anyway :-)

Re:Can't export? Since when?

[rjshields]

Most people don't have the time or inclination to set up their own hosting with photo sharing software and all the hassle that comes with it. It's much easier to use some thing like flickr.

I host my photos using Apache::Gallery on a linux box at home. There are no hosting charges and bandwith isn't much of an issue since only family and friends view them ;)