While your broad claim that face recognition is really not ready for a large-scale real-world application is basically correct, your specific claims are anything but. The FERET evaluation of 2000, for instance, used close to 4000 images, not 500, and the 2002 follow-up evaluation made use of far more images than that. Also, the fall off in performance due to the passage of time is not nearly as extreme as you imply. Comparing the 2000 results to the newer study should make it clear that substantial progress has been made in 2 years, and there's no reason to believe that rapid progress won't continue. See the FVRT page for more information.
Slashdot Mirror
While your broad claim that face recognition is really not ready for a large-scale real-world application is basically correct, your specific claims are anything but. The FERET evaluation of 2000, for instance, used close to 4000 images, not 500, and the 2002 follow-up evaluation made use of far more images than that. Also, the fall off in performance due to the passage of time is not nearly as extreme as you imply. Comparing the 2000 results to the newer study should make it clear that substantial progress has been made in 2 years, and there's no reason to believe that rapid progress won't continue. See the FVRT page for more information.