As the initiator and architect of the Pictomio software I thought I knew quite a lot about software development but I have to admit that I had no idea of the dynamics that a free photo viewer software could unleash.
Everytime I read a blog that mentions Pictomio in one sentence together with one of the major multi-billion dollar players (e.g. Vista Photo Gallery, Picasa, Lightroom or Aperture) it is for me a little piece of a dream becoming real. It is kind of a prove that the net is still free and the universal domination plans of Googles and Microsofties fail to limit the market penetration of free and creative new products.
I want to thank everybody who wrote blog entries, reviews or spread the news about Pictomio in some way else! You give us the motivation and the power to continue our development effort and we will try to bring you the best free digital asset management software that we can create in return. Please don't stop spreading the word!
Of course we do not exclusively listen to positive feedback. For example a lot of voices out there complain that some must-have features are missing in Pictomio. The most frequently requested features are image editing, support for RAW file formats, IPTC-support, photo website uploaders, export features, different skins etc. As you can imagine I am unhappy when I read in a user's comment that he or she has uninstalled Pm because it did not provide a particular function the user was looking for. Shortly after asking myself whether it was the right decision to put so much priority on the user-interface I realize that we surely will be able to offer the requested functionality in the future and we never had got such a overwhelmin response from the community with a dusty grey win95-look photo manager.
Even if the process of software development with our limited set or resources seems indefinitely slow measured in internet-time, let me assure you that we are working full steam ahead on the next version.
I also want to take the chance to drop some lines to potential investors (if you are not Adobe, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, a big photo equipment manufacturer you may safely skip this section): Until end of the year we will probably decide whether to develop a next generation version of Pictomio as an open community project. This means the time-window to contact us is closing - once significant parts of Pm start living in community-space they cannot be "bought" anymore. Fact is that we have an excellent developer team, a clear vision and an incredible market. Fact is also that NON of the big players (to name them: Adobe, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Corel, ACDSee etc.) currently has the perfect end-consumer photo management solution. Provided you have the monetary resources it is your chance to leverage my vision and the brain-power of the Pictomio DevTeam for your brand and position in the digital lifestyle market. Of course most of the mainsteam features have to remain free and we want to continue our way to create a "cutting-edge next-generation" software... but since you are all benefactors (*twinkle* to data-octopussy Google) this will surely not be your major concern...
OK - now since all major poker-players had the chance to place their bets back to the more realistic future of Pictomio: How are we going to finance the project in ongoing "David against Goliath" mode? Of course first of all David has to survive to win the fight: This means that not all new features of Pictomio can be offered for free. We will switch to a shareware mode on a per module/feature basis. End of this week we will provide you with a technology preview version of such a shareware feature which will be offered together with some sort of geeky hardware device every photographers needs . And the best about it is that we promise to use at least half of the revenue of this and comparable future shareware products to add new functions to the free version of Pm (the other 50% will be eaen up for marketing and development of the pay-feature itself).
Special thanks to the following blog authors:
English:
German:
And something that is going to make you laugh. Chris Pirillo mentioned Pictomio in one of his recent live web-casts:
And of course special THANKS for everybody translating and testing Pm!
Andreas
Remember Me
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