Yahoo buys Flickr 156
FLickLover writes "Yahoo is buying Flickr for an undisclosed amount. The rumors of the deal have been doing the rounds for weeks now. On the Flickr Blog Ludicorp folks are talking about the deal and how it impacts the community. "We can finally confirm that Yahoo has made a definitive agreement to acquire Flickr and us, Ludicorp. Smack the tattlers and pop the champagne corks! Woohoo! " This is the third high profile Blog/RSS related buyout of 2005. Live Journal was bought by Six Apart, while Ask Jeeves snapped up Bloglines." Update: 03/21 12:49 GMT by H : And my favorite comment on it comes from Ben Hyde's blog. Genius.
Flickr is very cool and I hope it stays that way. (Score:5, Interesting)
If you read the posts that founders Stewart and Caterina have been making in the Flickr Blog [flickr.com], and elsewhere [flickr.com], it's clear that they truly believe that this acquisition is for the best, and I don't doubt that both the Ludicorp folks and the Yahoo folks have the best of intentions.
Just as small children sometimes accidentally mistreat beloved pets, large groups of people with the best of intentions sometimes break things. Flickr currently has the feel of a 'mom & pop shop' and it is hard to believe that this state of affairs will continue with the influx of more money & extra management. But let's hope so!
Keeping up with, then shooting, the joneses... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Will Yahoo eat this up? (Score:1, Interesting)
Their web applications (mail, calender, address book) are superbly designed - and their content pages (search.yahoo.com, maps.yahoo.com, news.yahoo.com, etc) are very clearly laid out and easy to read. Compare and contrast the equivalent pages to MSN or Google and you'll see the difference. I also like that they use consistently simple color schemes - generally black text on white. It's much less headache-inducing if you're tired. It's one site I can trust to never use yellow on red text (like, say, foxnews.com).
Anyway, as a Yahoo fan (and someone who actually pays to use some of their advanced features) I'm happy that they'll be using some of Flickr's ideas / technology to improve Yahoo photos. I'll probably start using it a whole lot more when their 360 blogging service launches soon - assuming they've managed to keep it as simple and easy to use as all their other web applications.
BTW, am I the only person who thinks the person who designed the Flickr logo must be colorblind? The blue and magenta decor is so 1980's.
Re:So will they finally get rid of that stupid thi (Score:5, Interesting)
I hate all things Flash - including this. For those of us who have flash turned off / disabled, it's extremely inconvenient. There's no reason that an online image viewer should need to use it. Period.
First of all, you went to the trouble of finding out that the image url is passed to the flash application, but did not realize that they provide that URL in a link next to the picture? Did you also notice that they provide the URL to alternate sizes of the picture as well?
Secondly, Flash is NOT REQUIRED to use Flickr. Turn Flash off, and it still works.
So tell me again about how inconvenient Flickr is to those who are too good for Flash.
Here's my prediction (Score:3, Interesting)
Yahoo digest Geocities easily... (Score:3, Interesting)
What Yahoo says is not what Yahoo does. Take the case of Geocities. What was once a thriving sprawl similar to the one reaching from Boston to Atlanta with spots of brilliance scattered everywhere is now a homogenized mangle of hit or miss. To quote Caterina Fake at the Flickr blog...
What is going to happen to Flickr?
Flickr will be continuing on the path it's on -- to Flickr 1.0 and beyond. We'll be working with a bunch of people that Totally Get Flickr and want to preserve the community and the flavor of what is here. We're going to grow and change, but we're in it for the long haul, with the same management and same team.
I would mod this as Funny if this were a post at /.! I met the guys that were starting Geocities back in the old days at a CA conference here in New Orleans and found their new idea of an online community exciting (I suggested side streets or allys to give them more space in the developed areas.) I learned html on Geocities and still have a couple of pages there (which I cannot get into). But their company has gone into the blender that is Yahoo.
You're not going to become a bunch of suits?
No, no, no! The precious DNA we've got -- that of the Ludicrew -- is on side and revving up for building Flickr. Having the team building out the team's vision for Flickr has been stressed as our number one priority, and keeping us around -- in spite of our wiseassery, tomfoolery and tendency to hoot spontaneously -- is crucial for preserving the Flickrness that is Flickr. They're not going to replace any of us with suits, nor induce us to wear them. Lapel? I don't know what you mean.
The target stores circular in todays paper had some nice ties with ...s and ooos on them and at a good price. Better stock up. You may not be replaced, but you may very well become suits. "Just for this one important meeting" is how it usually starts...
Are you going to become Yahoo Photos?
No. Yahoo Photos will get a lot of Flickr features, and there are alot of other areas around Yahoo that will also be Flickrized where Flickrization would be good. Yahoo Photos and Flickr have different kinds of users with different needs, and will remain separate for the foreseeable future. Flickr would also suffer from a sudden deluge of LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! omg! so we're going to grow it carefully.
It took about a year for Yahoo to totally digest Geocities. It's just a word now that is internet history.
Do I have to have a Yahoo ID to use Flickr?
No. In the future, you'll be able to log into Flickr using your Yahoo account, but you can continue logging on as before.
I'll bet it'll be less than a year on the ID thing. Yahoo is looking to sell you to the advertisers and the ID is the hook, look at what you get. It's a lot. I use my yahoo personal page for a great news feed, totally customizable and with lots of features and look forward to a Flickr module in there aswell.
Waaaaaaaah!! I don't want Flickr to change!
Don't forget to breathe. It's not the end, it's the beginning! As the wise woman who taught us The One True Way of Flickr Massage says, the only thing permanent is change. But we're going to stay true to our vision and to the people who made us what we are -- that's you, the Flickr pioneers. Thanks for making the first year of Flickr so wonderful.
I'm sorry Caterina, but like the old Jefferson Airplane song goes," When the truth within you turns out to be lies, And all the joy within you dies..."
Of course, we will be happy to answer questions, accept backslapping, and do deep breathing exercises with the Flickr community at Flickr Central.
Don't count on it. I've tried to get access to my Geocities pages for over a year now and have yet to find an email address or 800 number at Yahoo to talk to someone about getting access there again, but... Sure there are plenty of forms, with standard replies and forums where there i
Too bad. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:New bubble sighted; investors "Dumbstruck" (Score:1, Interesting)
Yahoo just bought a bag of eyeballs, on sale. If you're in the content/ad business, eyeballs are good.
Flickr is the bait, and the users are the fish!
Does this mean (Score:3, Interesting)
Guess what? (Score:1, Interesting)