Day: October 16, 2004

I know quite well that mass photo storage isn’t easy or cheap, even as storage costs continue to decrease. Still, I was surprised that Ofoto decided to take the step of telling inactive customers that they were going to delete their photos if they didn’t order something. I received a series of reminder emails warning me of the policy. I checked the site, saw that I had copies of everything there and said… whatever.

From the email:

If you’d like more information about our storage policy, please visit our Help department:
http://smile.ofoto.com/659468.50917.0.9394

Annoyingly, that URL just dumps you at the general Help index page, rather than details about their storage policy. Basically, any order, of anything, resets the clock for a year.

Even knowing the costs, I remain startled that annoying a possible customer is worth the savings in storage. Yes, I haven’t bought a print in a year (or more). Deleting my data (with plenty of warning, to their credit) isn’t likely to get me to buy more prints. Business is about choices, and they made theirs. I’ll make mine: go elsewhere.

Since I’m not a del.ico.us user, my interesting links lie around, gathering dust in the e-mail inbox or in Safari. Taking a broom to the in-box, I find the following:

• Hugh Macloed of GapingVoid on Mount Everest (read the entire post… it’s not long)
  

  9. Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb.
  You may never reach the summit; for that you will be forgiven. But if you don’t make at least one serious attempt to get above the snow-line, years later you will find yourself lying on your deathbed, and all you will feel is emptiness.

  I often agree, but this kind of creative focus also requires a tremendous selfishness. I enjoyed the entire list of How to be creative posts, not just #9.

• Michael Tchong on Time Compression. Just some pithy stats to underline the reality of the world today, and the view that time is worth more than money.
• Selling answers to the NYTimes crossword puzzle, faster than the Times! [via paidContent]
• I beat Walt Mossberg to the punch with my radioShark review. I don’t claim I was as comprehensive, but the lack of a program guide was a common concern.
• Seth Godin in Fast Company: “There is no corporate privacy, and it’s a good thing” – Transparency wins, in part by forcing an organization to compete all the time. Not everyone is willing to do that, so if you are, you win — because customers win.

I’ll save the Safari bookmarks bar for another time.