Top Startup

ummmm….why would you even consider these?…no offense….

your a web dev guy right?…if you don’t have your own dedicated server why not at least use something like bluehost for the real all-you-can-eat with 600GB of space, ssh, python and ror, 6TB of xfer for like $7 a month or go cheap with a $30 a year web host….

You can make your own picasa if i remember correctly it was just an image blog + google map api mashup before google ate it.

Awesome question. There’s always this great dilemma as a geek between rolling your own - which is fun and great experience, and buying a service.

I love photos, but thats not my core interest. If you look at it in terms of how you use your time, flickr costs me less than 1 hr of my billable time per year. If I chose to roll my own (or use gallery2), it would take at least a few hours to set up, and then probably an hour a year in maintenance, and would more likely than not be more cumbersome to use than the iphoto flickr uploader.

If you’re looking to build an OSS product to compete with flickr, that’s a whole different motivation. My motivation is to get my pictures in a place where friends can see them!

Colin, that was a great rationalization on how to spend your money wisely. I admit I am a google fan of anything but flickr does holds some advantages for now. My client photographer can update his photo collections at flickr anytime without bugging me , but still relishes the fact that he has his own customized website of photos.

We have different needs thats why thee are a lot of solutions out there, coz my need may be totally different from yours even if we have similar dillemmas.