Open Source Photo Management Software and Hosted Photo sites
I've been writing about hosted photo sites and I am tired of the lack of differentiation amongst all of them! I believe in photos as a medium of communication of our society and archiving of our times.
So, hosted photo sites should not stop at allowing uploading and sharing of pictures and be happy with charging for printing. In today's Web 2.0 world where online communities are empowered with wikis and blogs and forming participatory media communities, I hope photo sites Yahoo or shutterfly would wake up to the potential of online communities beyond the customer communities on their sites and provide new offerings integrating rest of the web.
I got an email today inquiring if I had tried any of the softwares in this space.
I've written about Picasa.
I've used Gallery, the opensource Photo management software that can be setup online and integrated seamlessly into any web site. Its great for allowing a community of users to create directories and manage their own photos for sharing online with others.
My friend Raaj has been offering a gallery installation for his friends and family at his home portal gardenofhearts.net since 1997.
I like how gallery integrates with leading photo sites to allow purchase of photos as you are viewing a shared photo. I've tried the purchase link to shutterfly particularly. Its not easy to use them because the integration is not completely done with the companies blessings. So, when I see a picture I want to buy and click the "Buy from shutterfly"link, it treats me as a new guest user on shutterfly and doesn't my profile there, which I didn't appreciate.
Its a shame that the photo sites have not appreciated the value of such communities and lost the potential revenues from them.
So, hosted photo sites should not stop at allowing uploading and sharing of pictures and be happy with charging for printing. In today's Web 2.0 world where online communities are empowered with wikis and blogs and forming participatory media communities, I hope photo sites Yahoo or shutterfly would wake up to the potential of online communities beyond the customer communities on their sites and provide new offerings integrating rest of the web.
I got an email today inquiring if I had tried any of the softwares in this space.
I've written about Picasa.
I've used Gallery, the opensource Photo management software that can be setup online and integrated seamlessly into any web site. Its great for allowing a community of users to create directories and manage their own photos for sharing online with others.
My friend Raaj has been offering a gallery installation for his friends and family at his home portal gardenofhearts.net since 1997.
I like how gallery integrates with leading photo sites to allow purchase of photos as you are viewing a shared photo. I've tried the purchase link to shutterfly particularly. Its not easy to use them because the integration is not completely done with the companies blessings. So, when I see a picture I want to buy and click the "Buy from shutterfly"link, it treats me as a new guest user on shutterfly and doesn't my profile there, which I didn't appreciate.
Its a shame that the photo sites have not appreciated the value of such communities and lost the potential revenues from them.
posted by Sudha (Su) Jamthe at 1:38 PM
3 Comments:
It may be too early to giveup, as the photo sites will soon build new solutions based on web 2.0 participatory communities (as you put it)
Agreed Joe.
Its a matter of who takes the lead on this one who'll get the revenue pie.
Can anyone recommend the well-priced MSP software for a small IT service company like mine? Does anyone use Kaseya.com or GFI.com? How do they compare to these guys I found recently: N-able N-central it support
? What is your best take in cost vs performance among those three? I need a good advice please... Thanks in advance!
Post a Comment
<< Home