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"I'm not hot on downloadable apps.  I don't care how great they are: a download just creates a barrier for the user, and it's hard to think of many downloads that have taken off in recent years - Skype, StumbleUpon (an extension, so not really a full app, and it took years to get traction) and VideoEgg's publisher, perhaps, plus the obvious P2P apps.  \nBut it seems to me that those downloads with good web-based alternatives lose out.  YouTube's rivals, for instance, focused on downloads early on - Grouper took a long time to get wise to web apps, and that stood in the way of growth.  The company sold, but only for the tech, not the non-existent traffic.  Likewise, Slide.com's competitor FilmLoop thought that downloads were the hot ticket - they weren't.  Another way to look at this: the biggest audience for media-sharing right now is the teen demographic.  Many of those users are on borrowed/shared computers, so downloading isn't a great option.\nAnd that's why UK-based Izimi, a download that a group of bloggers including Mashable have been testing recently, may struggle despite being a good app.  Launching today, Izimi lets you share all types of files with other users and list them on a public profile page for sharing with non-Izimi users.  That's particularly good for big files like videos.  In this version, all files are public (privacy coming soon) and can be tagged.  However, users downloading the files are getting them direct from your desktop, so your machine needs to be on for that to happen.  How is this better than YouTube?  It can share loads of file types, there are no limits to the size of files you can share and there's no loss of quality, among other advantages.\nBut alas, there's still that pesky download.  I was hesitant to test it, impatient while it spent 5 minutes installing itself and keen to get it off my PC along with the scores of other downloadable apps we test weekly.  That said, the Oxford, UK-based company has $3 million in funding - someone must believe in it.  That said, I still think this company will be forced to change direction to survive.\n\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2007/03/04/izimi/>