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Yahoo! Photos to Shut Down

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the flickred-out dept.

prostoalex writes "Yahoo has finally made a decision regarding Yahoo! Photos vs. Flickr battle, and will be shutting down Yahoo! Photos by the fall of this year. Even though Yahoo! Photos currently maintains a higher share of Internet visits, Flickr growth convinced the company to maintain a single photo site from now on. Says USA Today: 'Stewart Butterfield, who co-founded Flickr in 2004 with wife Caterina Fake, says the move is a "validation" of the central idea of Flickr: that photos in the digital age are very different from a physical print. "We saw it as a means of communication and connecting with people," says Butterfield, Flickr's general manager. "People can take a picture and get immediate feedback from all over the world, and you can't do that with a printed photo."'"

18 of 71 comments (clear)

  1. Was wondering by bsharitt · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I was wondering how they were going to merge Yahoo photos with flickr, and was expecting and uglier merger. Throwing out Yahoo photos is a much nicer solution.

    1. Re:Was wondering by Ilgaz · · Score: 3, Funny

      They say (can't paste, text picture in gif!) that my photos will be automatically converted to flickr.

      Lets hope Flickr doesn't have "karma" thing, my precious(!) yahoo photos are generally funny looking stuff I got from mail attachments. :)

  2. But... by madbawa · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...will I have to create yet another account for Flickr or will my Yahoo login work?

    1. Re:But... by bsharitt · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I believe they've already got flickr working with Yahoo logins. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's a requirement for new accounts, and they may have made the old users migrate.

    2. Re:But... by utnapistim · · Score: 2, Informative

      and they may have made the old users migrate.

      They did; I was one of the victims. The kept offering a "merge with your yahoo account" option, then they made it mandatory :(.

      --
      Tie two birds together: although they have four wings, they cannot fly. (The blind man)
    3. Re:But... by maxume · · Score: 5, Funny

      If you collect your tears from when a giant corporation harms you, you can use them to bring a puppy back to life.

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
  3. Wonder how much money Flickr makes. by nagarjun · · Score: 3, Insightful
    I have never seen any advertising on Flickr. Assuming even 5 million paid subscribers ("pro accounts") worldwide, that's only a little over $100 million/yr. Not a lot for a company of Yahoo's size.

    They have other revenue streams too of course, but I can't get help get the feeling that Flickr gets Yahoo! more good PR than money.

    1. Re:Wonder how much money Flickr makes. by Mwongozi · · Score: 3, Informative

      You must have a Pro account. Free accounts display ads.

  4. Photobucket 40% market share by lowem · · Score: 4, Interesting

    From TFA, it's interesting to note that Photobucket has 40% market share, at least in terms of hits (as of Apr 2007). Even if you add up Yahoo Photos and Flickr, that's 10.2%.

    1. Re:Photobucket 40% market share by stunt_penguin · · Score: 4, Interesting

      To be honest, I'd go for quality over quantity. I don't mean to sound snotty, but flickr isn't a site where everyone just uploads their OMG funny!! GIF files and every crappy camera phone snap; it's more of a serious photographer's site, and as such doesn't have the same potential market as somewhere like photobucket.

      It does, however, redeem Yahoo! in the eyes of a lot of people, and for that, I suppose they should be grateful.

      --
      When the posters fear their moderators, there is tyranny; when the moderators fears the posters, there is liberty.
    2. Re:Photobucket 40% market share by stunt_penguin · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You haven't spent long actually using flickr, obviously.

      --
      When the posters fear their moderators, there is tyranny; when the moderators fears the posters, there is liberty.
    3. Re:Photobucket 40% market share by asninn · · Score: 2, Informative

      No, the GP is right. Sure, there are people on Flickr who post OMGfunny!!111 pictures and the like, but generally speaking, they seem to be in the minority (or at least it FEELS like they're in the minority).

      Also, Photobucket is really just that - a big bucket into which you dump stuff. Flickr, on the other hand, is all about sharing, exploring and interacting (I know that sounds cheesy, but it's true). I can see why Photobucket has a higher market share if all you want to do is dump your photos on a free hosting service so you can use them on bulletin boards, but that's not a "market" that Flickr is aiming at, anyway.

      --
      butter the donkey
  5. Let's hope they'll get to keep Flickr then... by Jugalator · · Score: 2, Informative

    OK, let's see if they'll get to keep Flickr then...

    http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN042225 3620070504?feedType=RSS

    --
    Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
    1. Re:Let's hope they'll get to keep Flickr then... by CrackedButter · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Oh I fucking hope not. I use Yahoo for many things and if Microsoft buys them, I'd have to switch to Google or something more 3rd party. I also wouldn't want to turn the internet into a Google vs Microsoft landscape because that is what it is if Microsoft buys Yahoo! The internet is more interesting with Yahoo.

      --
      Jonathanjk.com
    2. Re:Let's hope they'll get to keep Flickr then... by kestasjk · · Score: 4, Funny

      What's a "Yahoo"? Is that like a "Fax" or "Cassette" or something?

      --
      // MD_Update(&m,buf,j);
  6. best is to shift to picasaweb! by freakxx · · Score: 4, Informative

    it offers 1 GB of total space and unlimited bandwidth...sufficient for an ordinary user....if needed more, create another picasaweb account and link one account with another using favorite feature of it...

    I used Flickr before but was annoyed much with their 20MB/month limit as 1280x1024 images were talking 600KB+....means, not more than 35 images a month...a big restriction...

  7. eGroups by lennier1 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Does anyone still remember when the same thing happened with eGroups and Yahoo! Groups?

  8. Continuity of free services by bill_kress · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This kind of makes me sad. Not that I ever really trusted them, but as a user the ONLY thing I really really need is a continuity of service.

    It would just be nice to know that if I happen to forget about the service for a year or two and then happen to need it, it's there--ready to serve those pictures that you uploaded years ago.

    Paid services are worse because any accidental lapse in payments and your photos all drop into the bit bucket. I know that sounds like a silly worry, but when you are talking about long-term continuity (across generations, possibly), at some point there is going to be a payment screwup of some sort.

    Doing it yourself is probably the worst case. Eventually a server crashes or screws up and you don't reload it, also--what a waste to leave a server running 24/7 for years just in case you need to review a picture!

    This is most significant with pictures. Many people consider the pictures of their family among their most treasured possessions. You could just spam all the services with all your pictures, but that has a bunch of problems. They all use different upload methods and most take a huge amount of manual labor--Also many have limits so you can't really just blindly upload all your pictures anyway.

    Of course, I'm complaining about a "Free" service that I'd use rarely, so I realize I have not right to demand, but to see a site that thousands of people have trusted to hold memories--people that my not even check back before the site closes--makes me a little sad.