Selective Amnesia There was a point to this. But I forgot.

flickr off, yahoo

—from Poo-tee-weet? – (?)

Sometime 2004 – flickr launches. YAY!
Sometime 2005 – Yahoo buys flickr. Boo!
Sometime 2005 – Yahoo says it will not meddle or interfere with flickr. Oh, ok then. YAY!
Now, 2007 – Old flickr ids phased out, Yahoo signin compulsory on flickr. WTF? This is bad news!

(So, what follows will be unmitigated-ly boring a rant. Move on.)

There was a reason I signed up for flickr. It was small, cool, and it had a great community. I signed up early in flickr’s career – when it was still a Ludicorp company. Which meant, in flickr’s own terms – I was Old Skool. And therefore, Cool!

When I signed up and tried passing off my rather inane stuff as art, there were people to tell me I sucked at photography, and they said it rather nicely. And then, there were people like Caterina and Stewart, who, you know, were the top brass on flickr. They started the place up, and they kept it lively and fun with their banter, comments, and by their friendly hellos when people joined the party. (Caterina was one of my first contacts on flickr. She added me. I felt like I belonged)

So, along comes Yahoo, with a large cheque. And flickr changed hands. But, we were told the old guard wouldn’t die. We’d still be Old Skool and fun and respected. More importantly, it said we needn’t shift over to a Yahoo account to use flickr. Things were ok.

flickr 2.0 happened – with better features, some revamping and stuff.

And then, this morning, the bomb landed. This is the end of flickr as I see it. *

If you thought I was the only guy ranting – check this out.

Update: BBC picks it up.

Tags: flickr, flickr off

*Yes, I know it’s a tad early, and exaggerated to say that. But watch out.

Music, rhythm and children

Seriously, this guy ought to run our government. Sincerely and all.

[via Prabhu]

Feng Shui

There’s something drastically wrong when a system designed to improve the ‘spirits’ and the ‘good winds’ in a living/working space dictates you put vicious cannibalistic fishes in the hall.