Picasa 2.0 Now Available

[Suhit Gupta]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.picasa.com/index.php' target='_blank'>http://www.picasa.com/index.php</a><br /><br /></div><i>"A free software download from Google. Picasa is software that helps you instantly find, edit and share all the pictures on your PC. Every time you open Picasa, it automatically locates all your pictures (even ones you forgot you had) and sorts them into visual albums organized by date with folder names you know. You can drag and drop to arrange your albums and make labels to create new groups. Picasa makes sure your pictures are always organized."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/logo.gif" /><br /><br />Woohoo! Enjoy folks... this has been a long time coming. :)

[Tim Williamson]

OMG!!! It's finally out! I was just thinking today "I wonder what's going on with Picasa 2"...

[Tim Williamson]

Sweet, plus it's free! :D

[Suhit Gupta]

Yeah and the features are rockin'. As usual I am unhappy that it doesn't have a plugin so I can manage/display my images on the web, but other than that this is a fantastic piece of software from what I can tell in the last hour of playing with it.

Suhit

[James Fee]

As usual I am unhappy that it doesn't have a plugin so I can manage/display my images on the webI assume you mean beyond Hello (http://hello.com/) support?

[Kent Pribbernow]

Damn, this is a major improvement. The photo editing and tweaking are wonderful. :rock on dude!:

[Suhit Gupta]

As usual I am unhappy that it doesn't have a plugin so I can manage/display my images on the webI assume you mean beyond Hello (http://hello.com/) support?
Yes. Hello does not have complex user management abilities AFAIK.

Suhit

[JoshB]

Very nice.

I've posted my first impressions here:

http://www.geekblog.org/2005/01/google-releases-picasa-2-great-photo.html

[Jason Dunn]

Ok, this software seriously ROCKS - I'm stunned that they're giving this away for free. 8O

[Jason Dunn]

As usual I am unhappy that it doesn't have a plugin so I can manage/display my images on the web...

What type of software has that?

[Jason Kravitz]

How does Picasa compare with ACDSee - similar products or are they targeted at different users/appliation?

[Kevin & Beth Remhof]

As usual I am unhappy that it doesn't have a plugin so I can manage/display my images on the web...

What type of software has that?

Gallery (http://gallery.sourceforge.net/). At least IMHO.

For my needs (family photo albums), Gallery is great for managing photos on my website. It even has a Java applet that automates the process of adding photos to the site.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Oh, Suhit was telling me over IM earlier in the day. Wait till you hear about the feature set, it sounds very very promising.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

First problem of the day: Emailing photos can only be done via Outlook, Gmail, and Picasa mail. Why so restrictive?

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Second problem of the day: It's not displaying my PSD files properly. Hmmmm!

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Beyond that it looks great! However the GIGO rule applies: If your photo folders are messy, your timeline will be this huge jumbled mess that you'll have to sort out.

[Macguy59]

I've been a huge fan of Picasa and this update absolutely rocks :werenotworthy: I wish they made a Mac version of this :(

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Few more notes:

1. Picasa doesn't seem to be colourspace aware. You have been warned.
2. Fill Light in effect controls your midpoint in levels, Shadows your black point, and Highlights your white point.
3. Sharpen effect is on the strong side. Use with caution.
4. Effects like Glow and Filtered B&amp;W are great dummies tools for those who don't want to mess in Photoshop.
5. There's an effect to add film grain. With all the people complaing about noise in cameras, I wonder who wants that...
:wink:

[Macguy59]

Few more notes:

1. Picasa doesn't seem to be colourspace aware. You have been warned.


Could you expound on this? It doesn't pretend to be a replacement for PS and I think your trying hard to find problems with it. Perhaps I'm just misunderstanding your comments.

[Mr. MacinTiger]

I've been a huge fan of Picasa and this update absolutely rocks :werenotworthy: I wish they made a Mac version of this :(

Not slamming Picasa here, which is a great piece of programming, but have you seen iPhoto 5 in operation? Check out the Apple website and give it a look-see. It's just as slick as Picasa and has added some great new features! :wink:

[Macguy59]

Not slamming Picasa here, which is a great piece of programming, but have you seen iPhoto 5 in operation? Check out the Apple website and give it a look-see. It's just as slick as Picasa and has added some great new features! :wink:

Yes I have :wink:

[Fitch]

Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but what advantages does google have in giving away this software? They may get some revenue from Hello, perhaps, or maybe a few bucks from the photo uploading houses they have listed, and they tout g-mail, but what else? I don't see google ads on anything.
I mean, it's a VERY powerful tool that will probably, one day, rival WinAmp as most-installed-third-party-software, since it's free.
Do you think they'll see if Microsoft wants to buy it? This is a VERY iPhoto-competetive release.

[Suhit Gupta]

As usual I am unhappy that it doesn't have a plugin so I can manage/display my images on the web...

What type of software has that?
Exactly my point... there isn't one.

Suhit

[Suhit Gupta]

As usual I am unhappy that it doesn't have a plugin so I can manage/display my images on the web...

What type of software has that?

Gallery (http://gallery.sourceforge.net/). At least IMHO.

For my needs (family photo albums), Gallery is great for managing photos on my website. It even has a Java applet that automates the process of adding photos to the site.
Gallery does but it has two problems (IMHO) -

1) The administrator is required to create galleries.

2) The access model is a binary one (on or off) for each gallery.

What I have designed is a system where there is no gallery. Instead you store all your images in one place and give them different premission models (plus you tag your images with various searchable tags). Now, anyone can use your system to perform a serach on your images and essentially create their own custom galleries (i.e. saved search results) but the results vary based on your permission model. Therefore, one's girlfirend and mom could potentially be searching for the same string (eg. Spring Break) but your incriminating pictures are visible only to your girlfriend. I feel that this will give a high level of flexibility to the viewers and the access model will be highly transparent (i.e. none of Gallery's 'you do not have access to this gallery').

Once I am done implementing it, I will put it up for you guys to beta test. I will also try (later this week perhaps) to put up a spec for this kind of a project and see what you guys think of it.

Suhit

[Tim Williamson]

Wow, that sounds like a really great idea, I'll be looking forward to trying it out!

[karinatwork]

This is awesome - it does exactly what I wanted!!! I loved Picasa before, but now I feel like I have to run around the office and tell everyone about it. And I can't believe they're giving it away for
8O F R E E ! ! !
Google, did I ever tell you I love you???

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Could you expound on this? It doesn't pretend to be a replacement for PS and I think your trying hard to find problems with it. Perhaps I'm just misunderstanding your comments.

If you're picky with colours, and going to be editing and printing from Picasa, you might be in for some small surprises.

[Godsongz]

Whats with the timeline being so small? I uninstalled Picasa 1 several months ago after being one of the last to pay for it, and then being pretty sure it was an abandoned product, but I'm certain that I remember the timeline being full screen. Now its like QVGA in the middle of my 1280x1024 screen?? I can't find an option to bring it back to full screen, doesn't look like there is one... and its really leaving me scratching my head and wondering... "what were they thinking?"

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Is it the one where you access by pressing the "Timeline" button on the main menu bar? If so, it's full screen for me!