Celebrations

There has been a fair bit of Polaroid-rage so I thought I'd chuck in my three h'pence worth.

First up. The only constant in life is change. I'm not the bloke I was ten years ago when Blip started. I'm not the same bloke as I was four years ago when I started blipping and I'm probably different now to how I was this time last week. I cannot control many of these changes so the best thing to do is accept the ones that I can't change. I take a similar view of the world. It just keeps changing and I can deal with some of the changes but others leave me cold - modern music Vs Hendrix? Fosters Vs real ale? Again I can elect to ignore or disengage with those changes which do not float my boat. Hirschman (1970) referred to this in 'Exit, Voice, and Loyalty'.

Now if I had an idea and put some effort into making it work and sank time and resources into it and it took off I'd be pleased. If, after a few years, a multinational came along and offered me a wad of change I must admit that I'd be stocking up on Moet and Montechristos. For many users Blip doesn't cost any money. As a business model that's hard to maintain when staff need paying (and pasky staff always want paying!) and there are technical resources to fund and maintain. I trust that Joe has made the decision to partner with Polaroid for sensible reasons both for himself and Blip. If it isn't to my liking when it comes time to renew my membership I'll look elsewhere but until then I'll still be part of this community because that's what keeps me contributing. Frankly I don't care if the UI is grey, white, puce or burnt umber. I've spent much of my working life wrestling with new software; I've even designed some. Users will find what they need or they will use a different tool (they will 'exit'...). I'm here for the craic, for the people and for the stunning photographs which members of the community so generously share.

For what it's worth that's my take on the recent announcement. Now I'm off to browse the cat blips........