Microsoft agreed to purchase iView Multimedia. In fact, iView's founder, Yan Calotychos, wrote an open letter about the deal (no terms were announced).

Basically, iView has technology that manages digital photos - and has a loyal following among photographers and graphic artists. No doubt, they need to do things like store, share and annotate extensive libraries of photos. And, for Apple fans, iView will continue to support the Mac product line.

Digital photography is becoming pervasive. So far, Apple's iLife has done quite well. There is also a new product offerings from Adobe and Google (ie, Picasa). True, Microsoft is late to the game. But, then again, with a pile of money in the bank, it can wait around - and just buy the market if it needs to.

Microsoft Flickr's Up originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 28 Jun 2006 12:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.