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Moving on from Picasa

googlephotos.blogspot.com

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Re: Moving on from Picasa

#41

Post by nattaylor »

I was a Picasa user for several years and I really liked it, but after Google Photos was announced and I saw the handwriting on the wall and completely switched (with much consternation) to Google Photos and have had a great experience. I uploaded over 17,000 to the Google-free tier and applaud all the automation they have built around auto-panorama-stitching, auto-animations, auto-face-tagging, auto-object, and auto-location. I've found that I share my photos much more now, and I also really enjoy having a single stream for my DLSR and smartphone photos (my workflow is to backup uncompressed DSLR photos then upload to Google.)

Picasa served me well, but I've moved on as well.

Re: Moving on from Picasa

#42

Post by Sanddancer »

notatoad wrote: post #18
al_biglan wrote: post #12

Huge pet peeve of Google... Develop a great little application/product that pulls you in and develops a decent user base only to have it disappear. I get that in a normal company, the finances might in fact dictate that the company can no longer support the user base with the revenue collected. With Google.. these free services seem to disappear with little warning. (to be fair: 4 years of not updating the official B…

Picasa web albums has hardly disappeared. It was replaced by Google Photos (then Google+ photos) a couple years ago. They left the old interface around for years to allow people to transition over at their own pace, you can't really expect a better migration path than that.

Google photos doesn't have a desktop app. Being able to sort pics on a desktop is just as important, if not moreso, as being able to sort pics on the web. Not everything needs to be, nor should be, a pure webapp.

Re: Moving on from Picasa

#43

Post by ikeboy »

anoonmoose wrote: post #30
al_biglan wrote: post #12

Huge pet peeve of Google... Develop a great little application/product that pulls you in and develops a decent user base only to have it disappear. I get that in a normal company, the finances might in fact dictate that the company can no longer support the user base with the revenue collected. With Google.. these free services seem to disappear with little warning. (to be fair: 4 years of not updating the official B…

Your comment about the blog prompted me to go check the Google Voice blog...nothing since May 2013. Crap. I've been using, loving, and recommending GV since I started using it in 2010 when I got my first smartphone...one day they're just gonna up and shut down GV and not only will I lose a service I'm extremely fond of but I also won't get, you know, phone calls, because that's the number I've handed out for the last…

Legally, you own your number, and have the right to transfer it. This should still apply if it shuts down.

IANAL, but see https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/keeping-your-telephone-...

Re: Moving on from Picasa

#44

Post by sigjuice »

masklinn wrote: post #37
sk8ingdom wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm still upset about Google Reader...

There's at least two of us then. Reader is what made me swear never to rely on a Google service for anything ever again.

I still don't know how to use the Internet without Google Reader :/

Re: Moving on from Picasa

#45

Post by microtonal »

miahi wrote: post #27

Time to move on. I mainly used Picasa Web Albums because of its seamless integration with the Picasa Desktop Application. I guess the integration will not work with Photos. Photos is mobile-oriented to the point that is almost useless on desktop. My photos were moved, but I have no idea if the permissions were kept. All the albums moved to "collections" have a "shared" label in the list, but then when I go to the spe…

The whole Google Photo infrastructure has other weirdnesses. Photos/images that I share with Hangouts don't show up in Google Photos. Previously I could remove them with Google+ Photos, but since that was shut down, I used Picasa web albums to remove Hangouts images.

Another interesting thing that I noticed is that some photos are not added to Google Drive if you upload them to Google Photos and have the Google Drive functionality enabled. Turns out it's exactly the photos that I already shared with Hangouts.

Their whole photo story is a mess.

Re: Moving on from Picasa

#46

Post by mikecb »

pgrote wrote: post #16
stevesearer wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Picasa on the desktop to organize my photos as well. While they are not going to develop it any more, it should still work if you have it installed right?

You are correct from what I read and understand. My concern is that one day something will stop working with desktop picasa and the Google Photos backend. I'd like to find something to move to so when the inevitable happens I am don't have to worry.

There's a desktop uploader that you might be able to point at the picasa folder, or just throw pics at it and then organize on the web.

Re: Moving on from Picasa

#47

Post by _yp »

pgrote wrote: post #8

Alternatives for desktop picasa? Desktop Picasa is also going away and it is what I use for organizing my photos. I understand the backend of Picasa Web is replaced by Google Photos, no problem. My problem is with the desktop organization. Desktop Picasa allows for one feature no other alternative I have seen allows ... tagging of multiple photos. Does anyone have a web or desktop alternative that supports tagging on…

Try DigiKam - it's open source and its photo management features work very well.

> Does anyone have a web or desktop alternative that supports tagging on individual and multiple photos?

DigiKam!

Re: Moving on from Picasa

#48

Post by berberous »

sk8ingdom wrote: post #25
al_biglan wrote: post #12

Huge pet peeve of Google... Develop a great little application/product that pulls you in and develops a decent user base only to have it disappear. I get that in a normal company, the finances might in fact dictate that the company can no longer support the user base with the revenue collected. With Google.. these free services seem to disappear with little warning. (to be fair: 4 years of not updating the official B…

I'm still upset about Google Reader...

Eh, I was until Feedly came along. It is really is just as good.

Re: Moving on from Picasa

#49

Post by amykhar »

I had assumed Google Photos was the Picassa code rebranded. Since Picassa was the engine for photos in G+, and then G+ photos moved to Google Photos, it never dawned on me that Picassa was still running as its own separate thing. I wonder why they felt compelled to redo photos?

Re: Moving on from Picasa

#50

Post by anoonmoose »

tshtf wrote: post #40
anoonmoose wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment about the blog prompted me to go check the Google Voice blog...nothing since May 2013. Crap. I've been using, loving, and recommending GV since I started using it in 2010 when I got my first smartphone...one day they're just gonna up and shut down GV and not only will I lose a service I'm extremely fond of but I also won't get, you know, phone calls, because that's the number I've handed out for the last…

I ported my number out of Google Voice a couple of years ago. Some things to keep in mind with GV: * Your only form of "support", even when paying to port out a number, is a forum staffed entirely with volunteers. If you're actually using GV it's useful to read through here to see the trainwreck: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/voice * As the parent mentioned, the GV Blog is barren. * You're better off…

Well, I mean, I certainly don't wish I did it years ago like you did- I love GV. I can't see myself leaving it until they make me, either through closing it down or making it too obnoxious to use or etc..
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