Smugmug Acquires Flickr • Hacker News Board

Re: Smugmug Acquires Flickr

#101

Post by asix66 » Sat, Apr 21, 2018, 4:11 AM UTC

joshvm wrote: post #9

rmason wrote: post #2

Finally Flickr will no longer be the neglected stepchild of a corporate parent and will receive some much needed love. Even though a lot of time has passed I'm optimistic that Flickr has a real chance to reassert its domination of online pictures.

Flickr has one really useful feature that I've used a lot: easy searching for public domain imagery. It's great that you can dial in whichever level of CC licensing you want and then grab some photos for marketing or wireframing. Also handy for machine learning!

Agreed. I’ve had some of my CC photos used, with attribution, by company websites and blogs. And been notified politely as to their use. I’m sure some have been used without my knowledge, but I’m ok with that. I’ve also been a pro subscriber since 2008. And even though Flickr has been languishing on simmer since, well, its inception, I keep my pro sub active, and upload new content (although not at the feverish pace of T Hawk!) :-O Smug: looking forward to Flickr's future.

Re: Smugmug Acquires Flickr

#102

Post by mc32 » Sat, Apr 21, 2018, 4:12 AM UTC

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #16

This is exciting! I've long believed that Flickr should have doubled down on their existing users instead of trying to become another Instagram. Over on the USA Today article[0], there's this line: A longtime fan of Flickr, MacAskill says before making any decisions, he plans to collect feedback from employees and users. Hey Don - I used to pay money for Flickr, and I'm happy to start paying again if there is evidenc…

I think the focus on community is paramount. Make it into a Photographer's go-to watering hole.

Serious groups like organizing shows, workshops, quality book printing, blogging (for news and events), and better ways to organize and display photos of interest [group a series of photos regardless of member [so long as the photo was public] --like the group pool stream but allow to showcase photos from sources other then "this group" or "my stream".

Re: Smugmug Acquires Flickr

#103

Post by ayushgta » Sat, Apr 21, 2018, 4:21 AM UTC

Sometime in early 2000s, I had a meeting with Chris. It was early days for them and they were running out of their home. This was the time when Flickr was a darling of the valley (and wasn't acquired by Yahoo yet).

Chris and I were talking, sitting around a dining table with a bench and some chairs. I remember there was a lot of light and windows all around. Don (his son) was going in and out of the house taking delivery of some hardware/servers. Toni (his wife) was handling customer support from a room upstairs. And there was a dog, I think. That's it!

It was a breath of fresh air for me! In a place that has a deep-rooted infatuation with building products on raised capital, they were running their company as a small business. They were going up against giants like Snapfish, Shutterfly, Google, Yahoo and a bunch of others in a crowded space. Unlike those giants, they were charging money for their service! And they had the audacity of doing it under the name SmugMug. I recall Chris grinning about how much some people hated the name SmugMug!

This was the only time I met them. I've thought back to that meeting many times over the years. It was inspiring for me to see software/technology being used build something for a niche need... with a clear focus on running it as a small business. I found that to be uplifting then and I still do today.

Every couple of years I'd go to their site and see how they continued to grow. And each time it would bring a smile to my face. That they ended up buying Flickr is so darn sweet... I could not hoped for a better cherry-on-top to how I personally view the SmugMug story.

Re: Smugmug Acquires Flickr

#104

Post by asix66 » Sat, Apr 21, 2018, 4:31 AM UTC

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #16

This is exciting! I've long believed that Flickr should have doubled down on their existing users instead of trying to become another Instagram. Over on the USA Today article[0], there's this line: A longtime fan of Flickr, MacAskill says before making any decisions, he plans to collect feedback from employees and users. Hey Don - I used to pay money for Flickr, and I'm happy to start paying again if there is evidenc…

These article writers miss the mark (IMHO) by comparing Flickr to Facebook and Instagram. Those instant gratification platforms ruin photos by sub-sampling uploads. When I share my photos on Flickr (pro account), they’re available in full resolution. Yes FB and Insta compete with Flickr for eyeballs, but for real photography sharing, there is no competition there. Flickr wins. If anything, SmugMug is (was) competing with Flickr.

Re: Smugmug Acquires Flickr

#105

Post by null_object » Sat, Apr 21, 2018, 4:49 AM UTC

audiometry wrote: post #42

onethumb wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don here, thanks so much for the vote of confidence. Big job ahead of us, but the community is the reason we did this. We want to invest, innovate and grow there. We'll be working hard. But first I have a lot of learning to do. Stay tuned.

Don— I was a paying customer too. Then Flickr changed their login, forcing me to get a yahoo account, which I then lost over time. So for years now, my account, and all the photos of my 1-3yo kid are buried and locked behind the “you need (login) and pay premium access to see all your photos”. All because that stupid yahoo login integration. Unrecoverable.

I also allowed my Flickr pro-membership to lapse last month, simply because I couldn’t remember the Yahoo login that’d been forced on me a few years ago. I received a reminder to my normal email address, but when I tried to reset the login, the secondary email was apparently something different and probably another arbitrary Yahoo address that I’d never ever used, so at that point I gave up trying to give them my money. I’m hoping Flickr will get some serious love now. I echo the calls to make it image-focused and inclusive. I agree with others about getting rid of the stupid, self-appointed ‘awards’ spam, and about speeding-up the site generally. I doubt it needs all of that browser-crashing, CPU-intensive javascript.

Re: Smugmug Acquires Flickr

#106

Post by foobaw » Sat, Apr 21, 2018, 4:50 AM UTC

ayushgta wrote: post #103

Sometime in early 2000s, I had a meeting with Chris. It was early days for them and they were running out of their home. This was the time when Flickr was a darling of the valley (and wasn't acquired by Yahoo yet). Chris and I were talking, sitting around a dining table with a bench and some chairs. I remember there was a lot of light and windows all around. Don (his son) was going in and out of the house taking deli…

It's good to hear how much audacity it takes to succeed. I love stories where hard work really pays off.

I'm a relatively late adopter (2009) but I really loved Smugmug from the start. As someone into both technology and photography, Smugmug was the perfect product! I remember really wanting to work for them as a college student - everything about the company was extremely motivating. It still is.

Re: Smugmug Acquires Flickr

#107

Post by jedahan » Sat, Apr 21, 2018, 4:50 AM UTC

onethumb wrote: post #45

audiometry wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don— I was a paying customer too. Then Flickr changed their login, forcing me to get a yahoo account, which I then lost over time. So for years now, my account, and all the photos of my 1-3yo kid are buried and locked behind the “you need (login) and pay premium access to see all your photos”. All because that stupid yahoo login integration. Unrecoverable.

I will move heaven and earth to solve this for you. We're moving off of Yahoo Auth as soon as we can, but can likely fix before that (which will take awhile). Raising this up the flag pole.

same. I tried connecting with yahoo support a few times and I can even see the public photos of one of my accounts but cannot login or download the originals, and they could not reconcile my yahoo login account with my flickr account.

Re: Smugmug Acquires Flickr

#108

Post by SlowRobotAhead » Sat, Apr 21, 2018, 5:12 AM UTC

joshvm wrote: post #9

rmason wrote: post #2

Finally Flickr will no longer be the neglected stepchild of a corporate parent and will receive some much needed love. Even though a lot of time has passed I'm optimistic that Flickr has a real chance to reassert its domination of online pictures.

Flickr has one really useful feature that I've used a lot: easy searching for public domain imagery. It's great that you can dial in whichever level of CC licensing you want and then grab some photos for marketing or wireframing. Also handy for machine learning!

I just used Flickr this last month after a LONG hiatus for a new reason. Wanted a site to make a shareable link to otherwise private photos for friends and family to see our in-progress trip. I hate Facebook and would be a hypocrite to post the pics to Instagram.

Worked really well to upload photos from phone to a private repo. Captions, and a link in the SHARE TO camera library.

Not everyone wants a travel blog. Current Flickr worked well.

Re: Smugmug Acquires Flickr

#109

Post by SlowRobotAhead » Sat, Apr 21, 2018, 5:14 AM UTC

zokier wrote: post #50

Clobbersmith wrote: post #4

When I worked at Yahoo they never quite knew what to do with Flickr. I hope at the very least Flickr gets resources to develop the site/app/other priorities because they make some pretty neat stuff.

> at Yahoo they never quite knew what to do Isn't that true for Yahoo in general? They kinda stumbled upon being internet giant, and have been utterly confused on what to do next ever after.

I see this going on with Uber now. They’re a ride sharing service that seems to be bored with ride sharing.

Re: Smugmug Acquires Flickr

#110

Post by Markoff » Sat, Apr 21, 2018, 5:18 AM UTC

i use flickr as 1TB backup alternative to google photos, bit their app is next to useless so can't really use it actively for organizing photos as on desktop

so any idea what will happen with free 1TB plan and the app? Google photos is the only reason i still keep gapps on my phone, it would be great to be able to rid off it