Oh you poor lost souls

I'm not writing to call anyone out in particular (least of all Julie), but how do the people I know find their way to such terrible software. I suppose if I did more soapboxing here about the things I love on the internet(s) then I could rest easier, knowing I had done my best to help the people around me make software choices.

Goddamned Snapfish. If viewing these photos doesn't require any payment, then why must I have an account with you (and your HP overlords) to look at something hosted on your site? Is your business model really rooted in a pissing contest over the size of your user base? What do you stand to gain by preventing the general public from viewing photos hosted on your site?

I'm sure that if I create an account you'll try to lure me into ordering calendars or t-shirts or Cambodian interpretive place-mats, all adorned with my favorite images from your site. These are all potentially lucrative opportunities for you, but have you considered what is perhaps the ultimate Hollywood instance of this sort of hucksterism:

Picture a Jewish comic genius, big fake ears, sprayed with gold paint, pointy shoes on his knees, waddling around a cave: "Space Balls the FLAMETHROWER!!!" That's the sort of business you're running here.

Unless of course I'm wrong. Maybe you've managed to keep some insanely great features hidden from the world, and you only make them available to your users. I doubt it, as I'm sure if you had real value to offer, that would be mentioned somewhere on this invitation.