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Viewfinder for iPad review and interview with Fraser Speirs
Most Mac users know Fraser Speirs as the developer of FlickrExport which allows you to easily export pictures from iPhoto or Aperture to Flickr. Most iPhone users probably know him from Darkslide (formerly "Exposure"), a Flickr client that he developed for the iPhone. Back in September of 2008, he posted that he would not develop additional applications for the App Store because of the way that apps had been both rejected without explanation or (even worse) accepted and then removed without warning. That changed in May of 2010 when he announced that he was "Back in" to iOS development, due to the iPad. The end result of that decision is Viewfinder for iPad, a "photo search and download" app for iPad. Fraser's story has interested me from the beginning because (at least in my experience) it's fairly rare in life that someone makes such a public, definitive statement and then later reverses it. While I suspect the "knee jerk" reaction to hearing his story is negative, I find it compelling because of his honesty. Adults can (and do) change their minds. Some might see it as a weakness (anyone remember the 2004 US presidential election and the term "waffle"?) but I see it as a sign of maturity. I've been using Viewfinder for a few weeks (Fraser, like many developers, provided a review code for that purpose), but wanted to do more than just a review of the app itself, but also talk to him about this story. He agreed to an email interview, which was the most practical way of doing it since he is in Scotland and I'm in the USA. Read on for more...
