Microsofts Yahoo takeover bid - Flickr Users are revolting
As predicted on my first article on the subject, Flickr users are less then happy about a Microsoft takeover and have started the microsoft-keep-your-evil-grubby-hands-off-our-flickr pool.
But the more I think about it the more I see that this takeover is extremely vital to Microsoft and that it will go through no matter what because the offered money is to much to reject it with good faith on Yahoos part. Its not only about the advertising money coming from search engines, not only the very vocal on the frontline user groups of Flicker, delicious and Yahoo Groups it also the access to dynamic web services behind those groups and a way to push nonstandard microsoft standards down the internet users throat and - and I think this is much more a major deal then anything else - push Silverlight into the internet limelight and take on Adobe and Google at the same go - thats something Microsoft would be just too happy to accomplish.
Why? Because Flickr was the defining moment in internet history that got Flash out of the "donīt make any more stupid moving interfaces that take up the users time" into the "Flash is probably the only viable means to make interactive Webapplications with multimedia content". Its why Macromedia just a year later got bought by Adobe and its why YouTube came into existence in the first place. Now microsoft has been developing this "flash killer" that nobody has used anywhere on the web - if Flickr was to use Silverlight that would give Silverlight a proper boost and put it on the agenda of webdevelopers and Microsoft would not have sunk another project that was geared toward the web - or so is the management thinking probably. That this is all faulty thinking and that the only thing that would happen if Microsoft started pushing Silverlight onto Flickr is that Flickr would soon die - but thats not stopping Microsoft from trying - watch it.
I actually HOPE this is happening as this would definately make the animated vector graphics on the web race open again and put in SVG as a viable nonproprietary option much sooner then when it would need to just compete with flash on its own (no media attention no adoption). As said this is gonna be the grant internet soap opera for the weeks, month years to come - get a tea sit back relax. Its putting fire under google, its putting fire under adobe its putting fire under microsoft (trying to make something out of it) and the web has a chance to overcome old things (like Flickr itself) and create something new and hopefully more open more nonproprietary and better leaner meaner in the meantime.