Why Did Cisco Kill the Flip?

O.K. I've loved my Flip camera. I mean, I didn't use it fanatically, but it sure made it easy to make videos for the Internet. I mean, the Flip video camera was so simple you could hardly make a mistake. It was designed for low-tech non-geeks who wanted something they could point and shoot. It was the Polaroid camera for videography.

Not only was it simple to use, it was the perfect tool for what so many of us wanted to do... upload video to YouTube. The movies you made with your Flip required no re-formatting. They were ready to go and you did not even need a fast connection to the web to upload.

An article at the Forbes blogs by Anthony DeMarco tells his reaction to the story. The title says it all: Upon Further Review Cisco's Decision to Kill the Flip Makes Even Less Sense.

If you'd like to check out some of the videos I created with my Flip, here's the link.

I've had fun with it, even if nothing I made was entertaining enough to go viral like some vids that have seemingly been shared with the entire cyber-universe. Items in my playlist include some live painting, turkeys gobbling, my assistant hitting a golf ball, scenes from the NSRA Nationals in Louisville, a train going by on a rural road, and a few other brief diversions.

My camera still works fine, too. Even if the company has distanced itself from it I'll keep it around and upload a few more snippets for our mutual benefit.

In the meantime, have a great day.