This is promising: SmugMug has bought Flickr & plans to “maintain Flickr as a standalone community of amateur and professional photographers and give the long neglected service the focus and resources it deserves.” (quote from article)
Now I don’t have to worry about Verizon shutting it down!
Exclusive: Flickr bought by SmugMug, which vows to revitalize the photo service
And the Flickr Q&A