While Everyone Talks About Microsoft And Yahoo, My Concern Is Flickr

I like Flickr. I do. I have almost 8,000 images on Flickr that I can pull into my web pages easily. I can refer people to them. Life, as it is, is pretty good. So when the first words about Microsoft's bid to acquire Yahoo came out, I didn't think about Yahoo.

I thought about Flickr. I thought about how I was forced to switch to a Yahoo ID when Yahoo acquired Flickr. While I wasn't one who made the news, I detested having to use a Yahoo ID for my Flickr account.

And now, Microsoft may purchase Yahoo. And that would include Flickr.

Do I really want to have to use a Microsoft log in for my Flickr account? Do I want to support a corporation that sneaks around making deals with educational institutions so that no other software is used? That has been found Guilty of practices of monopoly? Who is known for making all in its path proprietary, for peddling vulnerabilities with a EULA?

You can talk about how good it is for Yahoo, but for me - I'll look to change image hosting if Microsoft acquires Yahoo. It isn't that I support open source - I do - but rather something much more simple.

I don't trust Microsoft. And if they take control of Flickr, I will no longer trust Flickr. I am probably alone in that, in thinking in that way and willing to vote with my feet. I don't expect to be a part of some exodus. But I don't really trust Microsoft, and that lack of trust is something strong enough for me to shift my course. To download 8,000 images and reupload them somewhere else. Not an easy task.

Feel free to use the image at the top left. I am officially releasing it into the public domain.

But that is how much I do not trust Microsoft. My trusted computing does not include letting Microsoft hoset my data. Maybe someone at Yahoo is listening.

But I doubt it.

Hey, Google has image hosting, right? I trust Google more than Microsoft.