Flickr was developed by Ludicorp, a Vancouver-based company that launched Flickr in February 2004. The service emerged out of tools originally created for Ludicorp's Game Neverending, a web-based massively multiplayer online game. Flickr proved a more feasible project and ultimately Game Neverending was shelved.
Early versions of Flickr focused on a multiuser chat room
called FlickrLive with real-time photo exchange capabilities. There was
also an emphasis on collecting images found on the web rather than
photographs taken by users. The successive evolutions focused more on
the uploading and filing backend for individual users and the chat room
was buried in the site map. It was eventually dropped as Flickr's
backend systems evolved away from the Game Neverending's codebase.
Some of the key features of Flickr not initially present were tags, marking photos as favorites, group photo pools and interestingness, for which a patent is pending.
In March 2005, Yahoo! acquired Ludicorp and Flickr. During the week of June 26 – July 2, 2005, all content was migrated from servers in Canada to servers in the United States, resulting in all data becoming subject to United States federal law.[6]
On May 16, 2006, Flickr updated its services from beta to "gamma", along with a design and structural overhaul. According to the site's FAQ, the term "gamma", rarely used in software development, is intended to be tongue-in-cheek to indicate that the service is always being tested by its users, and is in a state of perpetual improvement.A further connotation, more specific to photography and the display of images, is that of gamma correction. For all intents and purposes, the current service is considered a stable release.
In December 2006, upload limits on free accounts were increased to
100MB a month (from 20MB) and were removed from Pro Accounts,
permitting unlimited uploads for holders of these accounts (originally
a 2GB per month limit).
In January 2007, Flickr announced that "Old Skool" members—those who
had joined before the Yahoo acquisition—would be required to associate
their account with a Yahoo ID by March 15 to continue using the service. This move was criticized by some users.
On April 9, 2008, Flickr began to allow paid subscribers to upload
videos, limited to 90 seconds in length and 150MB in size. On March 2,
2009, Flickr added the ability to upload and view HD videos, and began allowing free users to upload normal-resolution video. At the same time, the set limit for free accounts was lifted.
In May 2009, White House official photographer Pete Souza began using Flickr as a conduit for releasing White House photos. The photos were initially posted with a Creative Commons Attribution
license requiring that the original photographers be credited. Flickr
later created a new license which identified them as "United States
Government Work", which does not carry any copyright restrictions.
The photos are posted with this disclaimer: "This official White House
photograph is being made available only for publication by news
organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the
photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may
not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements,
emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or
endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House."
Early versions of Flickr focused on a multiuser chat room
called FlickrLive with real-time photo exchange capabilities. There was
also an emphasis on collecting images found on the web rather than
photographs taken by users. The successive evolutions focused more on
the uploading and filing backend for individual users and the chat room
was buried in the site map. It was eventually dropped as Flickr's
backend systems evolved away from the Game Neverending's codebase.
Some of the key features of Flickr not initially present were tags, marking photos as favorites, group photo pools and interestingness, for which a patent is pending.
In March 2005, Yahoo! acquired Ludicorp and Flickr. During the week of June 26 – July 2, 2005, all content was migrated from servers in Canada to servers in the United States, resulting in all data becoming subject to United States federal law.[6]
On May 16, 2006, Flickr updated its services from beta to "gamma", along with a design and structural overhaul. According to the site's FAQ, the term "gamma", rarely used in software development, is intended to be tongue-in-cheek to indicate that the service is always being tested by its users, and is in a state of perpetual improvement.A further connotation, more specific to photography and the display of images, is that of gamma correction. For all intents and purposes, the current service is considered a stable release.
In December 2006, upload limits on free accounts were increased to
100MB a month (from 20MB) and were removed from Pro Accounts,
permitting unlimited uploads for holders of these accounts (originally
a 2GB per month limit).
In January 2007, Flickr announced that "Old Skool" members—those who
had joined before the Yahoo acquisition—would be required to associate
their account with a Yahoo ID by March 15 to continue using the service. This move was criticized by some users.
On April 9, 2008, Flickr began to allow paid subscribers to upload
videos, limited to 90 seconds in length and 150MB in size. On March 2,
2009, Flickr added the ability to upload and view HD videos, and began allowing free users to upload normal-resolution video. At the same time, the set limit for free accounts was lifted.
In May 2009, White House official photographer Pete Souza began using Flickr as a conduit for releasing White House photos. The photos were initially posted with a Creative Commons Attribution
license requiring that the original photographers be credited. Flickr
later created a new license which identified them as "United States
Government Work", which does not carry any copyright restrictions.
The photos are posted with this disclaimer: "This official White House
photograph is being made available only for publication by news
organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the
photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may
not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements,
emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or
endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House."
