Gallery and other web based services for private photo collections is where things should be going. People want a centralized, easy to backup and secure repository that they can share with their friends. “Advanced” users have had that for a decade but it should be easy now. Gallery uploader has been going there already for Nautilus users. Ubuntu is right the group to make it happen. Getting rid of gimp is crazy regardless.

Let me restate the problem this way; if they believe something essential is missing, and of course if this is really true, then we must address this, certainly not by having f-spot, rather by addressing whatever the issue is in an existing (or through a new) free software package. If it is fud, as “yf” suggests, that has successfully convinced distro’s about entirely non-existent issues, then we must determine this and counter it with accurate facts for them. Either way, there is an issue which must be addressed.

One reason for a lack of gphoto2 activity may be the futility of having camera drivers. Most computers, from desktops to netbooks, come with card readers. It is easier for users to use the card reader than it is to find a specialty USB cable and it is easier for developers to ignore difficult cameras. Bluetooth and other wireless tech may temporarily shift the path of least resistance to camera drivers but reasonable standards usually win out.

None of these shifts are a good reason to dump good free software for Microsoft’s poorly performing traps.

So the question is, what does F-spot offer that Solang and Shotwell do not?

Also see:
http://www.ubuntugeek.com/planned-changes-to-next-ubuntu-version-10-04-lucid-lynx.html

GNote, at least in Ubuntu, has several unique issues. It’s been made clear on several occasions it will not be accepted in the main repository, although the reason why has I think not been made clear, but for this reason it is effectively banned from replacing tomboy. Furthermore, ubuntuone now actually uses the external publishing/sync feature of Tomboy that has not appeared (yet) in GNote. These issues both seem solvable to me.

Banshee I think will effectively be replaced over time with exaile (a Python based music/media player) over time. All the potential benefits of writing a media player in Mono/C# are already achievable more easily in a Python written one, and without any of the dangers or downsides. Rhythmbox also remains an effective music player in the interim.

Other opportunities, especially for netbooks and smartbooks, include Canola, which already is used as a media player and photo manager (eliminating banshee and f-spot together) on Moblin and similar netbook desktop efforts. I have thought it would be a good match for LXDE.

If people would like to work more on gphoto2/gtkam, or write a new pygtk app that does this, I think we would fully solve the Mono outbreak, and have better applications as well. Indeed, Python offers both more fun and a more effective language for development of such applications than C#/Mono, and again without putting yourself or others at risk.