Google bought Picasa


I’ve been a user of Picasa since shortly after it came out one to two years ago. I’ve suggested the product to all of my friends and touted its strengths to more people than probably cared.

Now, Google has purchased Picasa and is offering it as a free download.

As a business owner I was trying to understand exactly how Google plans to make money from this. I mean, how exactly does providing free software generate a profit? Well, the only thing I can think of is that they intend to promote the fact that you can order prints through the software and honestly, if that picks up steam, it could be serious bucks for Google.

I can’t stop there. I need to tell Google what needs to be changed in the next upgrade of Picasa. Seriously, it’s been a long time since they came out with an upgrade. In fact, they pretty much haven’t (except for bug fixes).

What needs to be improved in Picasa:

1. Better network support. I have over 20 Gigs of music images and store it all on my file server. The interface inside Picasa where I can choose which folders to “watch” and include in my galleries is riddled with problems. It can’t remember my settings and forces me to pick each folder manually.

2. Better methods for sorting and creating categories of galleries. Right now, each physical folder of photos on my computer is a gallery. Technically, I’d rather sort by date or create photo categories myself. They should also be permanent. I like how iPhoto and iTunes have a master “Library” and then from there you can create sub categories.

3. I’d like to be able to share my images over a local network with friends – automatically. Just copy whatever iTunes has and it’d be swell. Possibly this is a perfect time to merge the Hello application functionality with Picasa.

I’m sure if I put my mind to it I could come up with some other ideas. The above would make Picasa a rock-solid winner. It’s already a winner now and with these changes would completely capture the market. Go get ’em Google.

If you have any ideas for Google, please post them in the comments in this post. Thanks.


5 responses to “Google bought Picasa”

  1. Chris wrote: I have over 20 Gigs of music and store it all on my file server.

    Wow, I didn’t know Picasa handled music too. : )

  2. Yes, music is only one of the things Picasa handles. I also use it to handle my cattle and sheep farming ventures. It’s quite handy actually, I can sort my cattle by weight and value and sell them at the appropriate moment for most ROI.

    The best part about the sheep farm module is that I can spot the black sheep.

    Gosh. I’m taking this wayyyyy, too far.

  3. That’s what I call utility software. No wonder Google wants it. The sheep hearding ability alone is worth a couple milly.

  4. Sheep and cattle farming! I was searching for a reason why anti-spyware software is trying to kill Picasa and found this thread. Cracked me up! So, does anyone know why anti-spyware software is targeting it?

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