This is why the web is great. flickr is going to offer API Keys to competitors, but with a few conditions that make total sense.

Re API keys for direct competitors: this is something that we’ve never had any set policy on and this thread has sparked a lot of internal debate on the team: some people felt that it was unreasonable, some people felt like it didn’t matter since Flickr should win on the basis of being the best thing out there.

I actually had a change of heart and was convinced by Eric’s position that we definitely should approve requests from direct competitors as long as they do the same. That means (a) that they need to have a full and complete API and (b) be willing to give us access.

The reasoning here is partly just that “fair’s fair’ and more subtly, like a GPL license, it enforces user freedom down the chain. I think we’ll take this approach (still discussing it internally).

Basically we’ll show you ours if you show us yours.

Makes perfect sense to me. Why should flickr share their API with a competitor otherwise? Stay tuned as companies like Zooomr and Tabblo will probably take full advantage of this.

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