Why you ask? Well, one question she routinely raises with all of these free new online apps -
"What happens when these services try to make a profit? What happens to your stuff? "
Case in point this morning I uploaded three pictures of my daughter to my flickr account and got a message saying that I reached the 200 photo limit of my free account. And that to keep me within my 200 photo limit, they will hide my oldest pictures. They also reassured me that my pictures are safe as they are only hidden not deleted and that I can show them again if I upgrade to a pro account.
I am not sure that this is such a big deal to me as I store my pictures on my hard drive and back them up to a CD for 'safe keeping' but I can only imagine the boat that others are in who used flickr as their sole storage place. The cost of the pro account is only $25 per year and I was already considering forking out the dough prior to this but again that is not the point.
Then this afternoon I came across EdVentures in Technology � New and Improved Google Apps. Not to be out done by Yahoo, Google obviously feels that its online suite is developed enough to charge users for usage.
Comments (3)
As I was writing my post, I was at first really amazed at what I thought was an incredible deal - $50/year for access to their Premium suite. It was only when I took a second look that I realized that it was $50 per USER per year.
Not sure what their educational agreements are, but $50 per user per year might put it out of the range of some businesses - although it is less than the cost of some magazine subscriptions or professional memberships.
Thanks for the trackback!
John Martin
EdVentures in Technology
Posted by John Martin | February 22, 2007 3:04 PM
Posted on February 22, 2007 15:04
If only I could apply my talents for the good...like predicting a winning lottery number!
Posted by Susan | February 22, 2007 3:29 PM
Posted on February 22, 2007 15:29
Sorry - I have a cranky response... The next post will show you why.
Flickr has always been up front about charging for Pro accounts. That's no surprise. Predicting that Google would have the temerity to offer a pay site that includes actual support isn't prophetic, it's just being realistic! Products are available all the time for free. It's people that cost money, and always will. (Until someone writes a .php script that will conjure bread and water out of thin air...) Google is still way cheaper than Microsoft. (And you get what you pay for - a webified version of Microsoft Works.)
Posted by Jason | February 23, 2007 9:49 AM
Posted on February 23, 2007 09:49