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"This should be fun.  Let's take two competitive web startups, weigh up their pros and cons and decide which one (if any) will succeed.  First up, two relative newbies in the online slideshow space.  FilmLoop just raised $7 million in second round funding, while competitor Slide boasts Paypal co-founder Max Levchin as its leading light.  But while Slide is doing everything right, its rival seems to be way off-track.\nIn the age of web-based sharing, FilmLoop is sticking by its downloadable application - I think that's a mistake.  If I download FilmLoop to my desktop, how are you going to find out about it? While Slide still offers a downloadable app, they've quickly realized that the only way to get the word out is through blog widgets and - you guessed it! - feeding the MySpace beast.  Which brings me to the next point.  Which service is more attractive to MySpace users - Slide, with its well-placed MySpace logo on the frontpage?  Or FilmLoop, which seems to have added MySpace support as an afterthought?  MySpace is the number one venue for photo slideshows - ignore it at your peril.\n\nBranding, design and usability.  Who wins?  Slide again.  Instead of putting the product in full view, FilmLoop pushes it off to the side to make way for a PC Magazine review.  Does your target audience care about PC Magazine reviews?  Of course not - they're here because they got a personalized recommendation from their friend's blog or MySpace page.  But then, maybe FilmLoop thinks it can win over the \"mainstream\" demographic and continue to push its desktop product.  As I've said before, reaching mainstream audiences is tough - the MySpacers and bloggers are the low hanging fruit, so grab them while you can.  FilmLoop could also learn a thing or two from Slide's simple and accessible design.\nI could go on, but I think you get the gist.  In short, Slide wins on every point.  FilmLoop needs to think of its web product as an ad for the downloadable app and specifically target MySpace users.  Unfortunately, I suspect they'll continue on their current trajectory and lose out to Slide in the long run.\nUpdate (August 2006): I noticed last month that FilmLoop now powers Photobucket's slideshows.  Looks like they *are* tapping in to MySpace."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2006/05/02/web-20-wars-filmloop-vs-slide/>