Katie MarsalLong the domain of Linux and Windows users, Google's Picasa photo management tool is currently being tested for Macs, AppleInsider has learned.
While its proximity to a final release is still unknown, Picasa for Mac would serve as one of Google's few fully offline Mac apps and has often been one of the most conspicuous omissions on Apple's platform from a company otherwise known for its cross-OS friendliness in programs like Google Earth and SketchUp.
The company has previously made gestures towards integrating the app with Macs, including iPhoto and web plugins to upload images to Picasa's Web Albums service. To date, however, most observers have seen Picasa's basic organization, editing and sharing features as making the app a direct competitor to iPhoto that hasn't been as necessary as on Linux or Windows platforms, which have generally gone without rough equivalents.
A representative for Google did not return emails seeking comment.
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60 Comments
Having used Picasa for Windows, I think it's the best simple image editing and viewing program for the PC world.
That said, I don't see the point in releasing a version for the Mac. Because frankly, iPhoto is just much better.
Having used Picasa for Windows, I think it's the best simple image editing and viewing program for the PC world.
That said, I don't see the point in releasing a version for the Mac. Because frankly, iPhoto is just much better.
While the iPhoto plugin to send photos from iPhoto to Picasa works great and is pretty straightforward to use, that was as far as my dad could readily get (he wanted to make some pictures available just to my brother and I). He couldn't figure out that he had to sign onto the website, then navigate into the specific albums and send a link for each one of them to us. And there is just the manual process to get pictures from Picasa downloaded into iPhoto, which is also something my dad couldn't figure out.
If the standalone app makes these two things easier to do, lots of people will find Picasa much more usable.
Having used Picasa for Windows, I think it's the best simple image editing and viewing program for the PC world.
That said, I don't see the point in releasing a version for the Mac. Because frankly, iPhoto is just much better.
Agreed. I think an iPhoto plugin for picasa would be more appropriate.
Agreed. I think an iPhoto plugin for picasa would be more appropriate.
A Picasa uploader plug-in for iPhoto has been available for some time now.
http://picasa.google.com/mac_tools.html
...possibly have any idea about that? You have no idea how Picasa would work on the mac. Maybe the Google guys are smart, just maybe, and leverage on what iPhoto already does and integrates/improves what it does today. A lot of what Picasa does is provide integration with backend services (online publishing, printing using local services around the world) on the Google platform. iPhoto does nothing of that.
Having used Picasa for Windows, I think it's the best simple image editing and viewing program for the PC world.
That said, I don't see the point in releasing a version for the Mac. Because frankly, iPhoto is just much better.