Google Image Manager - Now Free
Is it just me or is Google getting more and more in Microsoft's face? :p
Google acquires iPhoto-like PC application, gives it away
Posted July 20, 2004 @ 11:44AM, by Ken "Caesar" Fisher
From ARSTechnica
Late last week Google surprised many by buying Picasa Inc, a Pasadena, Calif.-based digital photo management company. Picasa is the developer of a personal photo management application named, you guessed it, Picasa. Google began a relationship with Picasa in May of this year to help integrate photo sharing into its blogging service. Now the company has bought Picasa for an undisclosed sum, and the majority of the company is relocating to join the Santa Monica Google Team.
Picasa is best described as a photo-management application on steroids. It has many features oriented to automation, display, exportation, and management, and while not as powerful as iPhoto—the well known and rather well liked iLife application from Apple—the cost of entry is nil. Zip. Zero. Before the acquisition, Picasa was a US$29.99 application, but now Google is giving it away for free, even pimping it out on their front page. PC users not familiar with iPhoto may know Adobe's Album 2.0. This application is similar, but in my testing, I'd say it's faster, cleaner, and more simplistic. The application isn't amazingly brilliant, however. At the moment you can't have a single photo show up in multiple categories unless you copy that photo multiple times on your file system. Nevertheless, at this price, it's hard to complain.
The question is: why? Is this about Blogging or something else? The Blogging angle is important, but Picasa's Hello application, which is what connects Picasa with Blogger, was already available for free. Rather, I suspect that this is yet another chess move is the growing battle for the local desktop search. You may recall that Google is working on a local search utility code-named Puffin. After using Picasa, it's clear that the technology used in the application could be quite appropriate for a local search utility, and let's face it, searching images is important for all kinds of reasons. No, not that one!
Remember when Google was that quaint little search engine company? All those acquisitions ago...
