Why My "Tree" and My Images are With Me

Before you link all those images to your online tree at Ancestry.com, consider the following:

• When you download your GedCom file from the Ancestry.com tree, do the images come as a part of your GedCom file? (I don't think they do, but I could be wrong).
• If there are images Ancestry.com has aquired as a part of an agreement with another group or organization and you link those images to people in your tree, what happens if those agreements that Ancestry.com has with those groups are terminated? Do you still have active links to the images in your online tree?

I still prefer to download images to my own computer for my own personal use. But that's just me. I use Ancestry.com on a regular basis, but I prefer to have copies of things on my own computer and not be constantly dependent on a subscription or on agreements between other organizations and companies over which I have no control. 

There's enough I can't control as it is.

[Please note: Posts on this site are meant to get you thinking about how you do your research, how you share that research, and how you preserve that research. Whether you agree with me or not really isn't the point; I just want readers to think about things and make decisions for themselves instead of falling into habits or patterns without giving things some thought first.]