Picasa

Google for your images?

Today I discovered Picasa. It's the closest I've seen to iPhoto on Windows, much more so than my usual JASC AfterShot (although it looks like that has been replaced by Paint Shop Photo Album 5, which might be worth a look). The interface is very slick, full of smooth animations and transitions, as well as genuinely useful features. Keyword search as you type looks awesome. I'm not quite sure how I could have missed it previously, since the company has been around for a few years.

I only stumbled across Picasa because Google has bought the company, and released Picasa for free download. They also do a related application called Hello (which I haven't yet used), which looks to offer really simple peer-to-peer photo sharing. That could be excellent for letting remote family and friends see pictures of the kids.

I've only used the app for a few hours, but it's highly recommended so far.

See also...
If you want to see what Microsoft are working on in this area (and you've got broadband) then go to the Tour of Microsoft Research's Next Media group and click on the video.



This page is http://www.strangely.org/diary/200407/picasa.html. It was first published on Thursday 22 July, 2004 and last updated on Thursday 22 July, 2004.