Anyone who buys a new camera will soon discover that the number of pictures taken will take a quick jump. After a while the number will fall again but if you have bought a digital camera after using an film-based camera before you will land on a higher level in the end. So did I.

As you take more pictures you will soon also discover that it has become hard to find that special picture you know you have but just can't remember where or when it was taken. Me too.

Well, computers are good at keeping databases and surely this must be a problem that just about everyone has seen before. Of cource, after some searching on the net I could easily find more than 20 different so called DAM (Digital Asset Management) systems all claiming to be the final solution to all your archiving problems. Sorry, not really.

The problems I found were that even thoug I had a very short list of required functionality to start with it grew a bit as I tested a few of the available ones. (Acdsee, Imatch, Idimager and Mediadex).

Here's my current list of requirements:

• Support synchronizing between three computers not connected to a network
• Support independent and simultaneous updates on these separate computers
• Don't mess with my pictures unless I say so.
• Keep information regarding versions of the images
• User interface in swedish. (This is actually not needed for me, but as I share photo album with my father it's required)

Since I have not found any DAM system that support these requirements I'm out in the cold as usual. I claim to have some software development skills. After all, people pay me to do that so I can't be that bad. Unfortunately 15+ years of professional SW development has teached me a few things. One is not to invent the wheel over and over. Therefore I hesitate to take on this task as I see that it will take me months if not years to get anywhere close to systems like mediadex or Imatch even though I do not intent to implement any image manipulation functions.

So as a start I have bought "The DAM Book" to see if it can tell me my requirements are unreasonable and perhaps teach me more. When I have gotten through this book I will start by modelling the information that needs to be handled. I'm also reading up on Version control systems to see if any of these can be used as a base, but i'm not hopeful. They are intended for sourcecode, not for thousands of unrelated digital images.

So, if you have an interest in this area. Watch this space or contact me at: