Software Review: Lightbox Photo Gallery Software 4.x from Lightbox PhotoВ™, Part 1

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Software Review: Lightbox Photo Gallery Software 4.x from Lightbox PhotoВ™, Part 1
This is the first in a three-part review covering Lightbox Photo™ Gallery Software from Lightbox Photo™. I have broken this down into three parts because of the scope of this system is pretty large and to try to work it down into a single review would do the product an injustice. In the first part I will cover an overview of the software and look at what it takes to install and setup of the Lightbox Photo™. Part two I will look at what the existing features of the product are, and in part three I will look at what new features have been added to the latest version of the software. So let's look at a general overview and setup of Lightbox Photo™ Gallery Software. Lightbox Photo™ is a software package that runs on a server and its main purpose is to assist you in creating your own photo sales site. There are three different versions of this product that can handle everything from the independent fine art photographer to someone who wants to set up their own stock photo library business. The system is very flexible in that it can be set up on your own server as well as on a server run by an independent hosting company. Lightbox Photo™ also has the ability to host it for you. The software is available for Linux, Mac, and Windows, and there are three versions that are available to you depending on your needs. The standard version is aimed at the freelance artist and will let you create galleries, add images, display your images, accept payment via PayPal, VeriSign, and WorldPay among other payment processors. The professional version is focused to the small studio, collectives, and freelancers by adding additional searching tools and the ability to have multiple administrators with different privileges, as well as additional methods for payment such as offline payment for invoicing, or allowing a customer to pay by methods other than credit card, and shipping options for physical products. The Enterprise version is geared to those who need to manage multiple artists, use credit systems, and offer subscriptions. If you want to set up your own stock agency, then this is the version you would want, but it also has a number of features that really just about anyone would like. These include the ability to sell sets of images and allowing users to buy frames or other product options.

Add comment | February 11, 2009 - 9:08 am | Music

How Using Pirated Software Turns People into Internet Crime Victims

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The Business Software Alliance's October report called "Online Software Scams: A Threat to Your Security" reveals the dangers of buying or downloading pirated software. Sadly, pirated software doesn't always advertise that it is counterfeit and often appears to be the "real thing" to the untrained eye. This poses a clear and present danger to anyone shopping for software, whether it be on a e-commerce site, peer to peer (P2P) site or at a more traditional shopping venue. In the report's introduction it points to an actual example of how a misguided employee of the Wagner Resource Group of McLean Virginia used his office computer to download video and music files using Limewire and exposed the entire corporation to the dark side of the Internet. "In this case, the Wagner employee’s action set off a terrible chain reaction, opening up the firm’s computers to outsiders and exposing the names, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers of about 2,000 of the firm’s clients, including US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, according to the report. Although many view downloading a video or music file as a victimless crime, the consequences can become personal when cyber criminals add a little malicious software (often referred to as crimeware) to the mix. Specifically, it can lead to identity (information) theft or turn a user's machine into a zombie, which is controlled remotely and used to commit other misdeeds on the Internet. It is estimated that one-third of all software is counterfeit. In 2008, a study was conducted that revealed that if software piracy could be reduced by 10 percent in the United States it would generate 32,000 new jobs, $41 billion in economic growth and $7 billion in tax revenues. A lot of pirated software is sold via downloads. When this occurs, the normal form of payment is a credit or debit card. This means that the person who buys pirated software is providing this information to a criminal, who in turn might use it again or sell it to a third party. Like pirated software, credit/debit card information is sold on the Internet in underground chat rooms. page 1 | 2

Add comment | October 13, 2008 - 10:53 am | Music