WordPress MU

somewhere in the code:

if ( $imagedata['width'] * $imagedata['height'] < 3 * 1024 * 1024 ) {
if ( $imagedata['width'] > 128 && $imagedata['width'] >= $imagedata['height'] * 4 / 3 )
$thumb = wp_create_thumbnail($file, 128);

Is there a reason not to create a thumbnail for images larger than 3*1024*1024 ? With digital cameras offering higher resolutions, such images are becoming quite the usual, and many users complain about not being able to get a thumbnail for those.
Why such a hardcoded limit ?

My guess would be that such large files (most likely) would be stopped for being over an upload limit size, but if not creating a thumbnail from an image of that size would eat some processing power. Multiplied over 'x' users doing whatever else across the box/network/site(s), could really put a crunch on things even if it were just for a minute.

But, that's just a guess.

ok, so assuming I'm comfortable with 5 megs uploads and image resizes, there's no such thing as a hard limit in GD or something ?
I still don't get why such a hardcoded limit. Upload size limit defined in PHP would trigger before this, so, why ?

Your guess is as good as ours. I know there's a hack buried in here somewhere to resize images on uplaod.

As to the limit, it comes up on the wp.com forums on occasion. Staff's answer has been that they don't want to put strain on the servers.