News and Reviews > Mini-Reviews by Members
Google Picasa "Sunset" version - Mini-Review and anchor-point
IainB:
Originally posted:2018-01-24Last updated:2018-10-24
Basic Info
App/Service Name Picasa3 "Sunset"Thumbs-Up Rating :Thmbsup: :Thmbsup: :Thmbsup: :Thmbsup: :Thmbsup:Download URLpicasa39-setup - v3.9 Build 141.259 (2015-10-14) Sunset version.exe
MD5 hash: F5E535745F0E2140C31623DF8F9AD746App Version Reviewed"Sunset" v3.9 Build 141.259 (2015-10-14).Test System SpecsWindows XP and upwards.Supported OSesWindows XP and upwards.Support MethodsHelp web pages: https://support.google.com/picasa/?ctx=picasa#topic=6247471.
Upgrade PolicyNo upgrades.Trial Version Available?N/A (free to trial or use)Pricing Scheme$FREE
1.0 Introduction and Background:
This Mini-Review is more of an anchor-point for people interested in exploring the features/functionality of Picasa3 and wanting to know where the now discontinued software can be downloaded from.
The version referred to is the Picasa3 "Sunset" (my name for it) version released by Google at the product end-of-development point.
The content of this Mini-Review follows on from my comment on DC Forum:
Re: Picasa to be 'phased out' (File link updated 2017-09-12)
« Reply #26 on: 2016-07-21, 06:33:42 »
Ghacks wrote:
… I suggest you download Picasa from the official website to have local access to the installer. While Google may keep it up after it shuts it down, you may want to have a backup of it at hand should you require one.
From <http://www.ghacks.net/2016/02/14/want-to-keep-running-picasa-you-can/>
--- End quote ---
The download source was (on Filehippo.com): Picasa 3.9 B 141.259 - http://filehippo.com/download_picasa/
This "Sunset" version was downloaded by me and saved as: picasa39-setup - v3.9 Build 141.259 (2015-10-14) Sunset version.exe
The file is apparently still available from there: Picasa 3.9 B 141.259
_____________________________________
EDIT 2017-09-12:
The download source at Filehippo.com (above) apparently no longer hosts that Picasa file.
However one can still obtain it from the good link here, and it works just fine: picasa39-setup - v3.9 Build 141.259 (2015-10-14) Sunset version.exe
-IainB (July 21, 2016, 06:33 AM)
--- End quote ---
That good download link is to a Public file on my personal box.com account. I saved it there for posterity when I suspected that the file would become publicly unavailable (which it has, apparently). For posterity, it would be appreciated if DCF members could mirror that file, so that my site was not the only one. I am unsure as to whether Picasa3 "Sunset" (as I call it) is or will be available via Wayback or other public archiving service.
2.0 Overview:
There is a good overview in the Help web pages about Picasa3 "Sunset" at:
https://support.google.com/picasa/?ctx=picasa#topic=6247471
It covers these points:
Heading: Welcome to the Picasa and Picasa Web Albums Help Centre.
Get started with Picasa & Picasa Web Albums.
* Selecting file types
Photos
Videos and audio
RAW format images
How to use Picasa & Picasa Web Albums
* Add photos to Picasa
* hotos in Picasa
* anise photos
* Email or export photos
* lideshows. photo collages & movies
* Do more with Picasa
* Uninstall Picasa
Accounts, abuse and privacy
* What's happening to Picasa & Picasa Web Albums?
(NB: This discusses switching/migrating to Google Photos)
* Use the Google album archive
3.0 Specific/Notable Functionality:
Tags:
* Using Tags in Picasa. Can be used as a very powerful tool for creating persistent "virtual albums" by tagging random images to create a subject-specific album. (NB: Has to be tried to be appreciated.)
* Re: Google Picasa "Sunset" version - Picasa Tags and creation of virtual albums.
Thumbnail caches:
* Re: Google Picasa "Sunset" version - Treatment of thumbnail caches/databases.
3.0 Who this software is designed for:
Any PC user of Windows (probably from XP and upwards) who needs:
* an image media management tool which provides an extensive cataloguing database;
* an image database that caters for all/most image types and common video types;
* an image database that uses extensive metadata and facial/object/colour recognition, labelling, virtual album folders;
* an image database that incorporates comprehensive media editing and presentation tools.
4.0 The Good:
* An excellent (first-class) and stable image media management tool, with very good ergonomics in an intuitive GUI.
* Comprehensive Help file.
* Surprisingly fast and powerful in what it does..
5.0 Needs Improvement:
Have found nothing so far.
6.0 Why I think you should use this product/service:
Having used several different media image management tools, I have yet to come across one as good or as comprehensive as Picasa3.
It literally "set the standard" for other image media management tools to follow.
7.0 How it compares to similar products:
For some years previously, I had been a confirmed user of the excellent ACDSee, but I migrated to Picasa after trialling it and being blown away by its superb design and functionality. It was much more than I had thought I required, and this caused me to then accrete more/new "learned" requirements/expectations. Picasa "raised the bar", as it were.
Thus, to some extent, Picasa has spoiled me. There are apparently some similar/alternative tools to Picasa3, but none that I have come across so far actually seem able to meet my newer requirements set, or match Picasa3 for comprehensiveness or accurate face recognition and metadata cataloguing/searching.
A search of the web will no doubt turn up many perfectly good, alternative tools and reviews of same. For example, one on the DC Forum:
[url=https://www.donationcoder.com/legacy/Reviews/Archive/GraphicsViewer/index.html]The Image Management Tool Shootout(Archives - Informative and excellent review, though arguably dated by now.)
8.0 Conclusions:
* Very useful: An impressively solid and useful desktop program, which retains its ability to use uploading/downloading to the Cloud, even though Picasa Albums is defunct (now become Google Photos).
* Reliable: Stable. Never seems to give any trouble. I had two database crashes on earlier version(s), but not with this "Sunset" version (so far).[/list]
IainB:
Originally posted:2018-01-24Last updated:2018-04-07Copied from: Modify message - DonationCoder.com - <https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?action=post;msg=416459;topic=44983.0>
Building an Index of cross-references here... please help!
General references:
* The Image Management Tool Shootout(Archives - Informative and excellent review, though arguably dated by now.)
Switching/Migrating from Picasa to Google Photos:
* Moving On From Picasa (Google Picasa Blog post 2016-02-12)
Tags, Keywords, Indexing:
* EXIF+IPTC search/index standards in Picasa
* Freeware Image Organizer (Especially Tags/Keywords)?
* keywords and image management thoughts
* Using Tags in Picasa. Can be used as a very powerful tool for creating persistent "virtual albums" by tagging random images to create a subject-specific album. (NB: Has to be tried to be appreciated.)
* Re: Google Picasa "Sunset" version - Picasa Tags and creation of virtual albums
IainB:
BLANK on purpose (Reserved).
IainB:
Using Tags in Picasa:
If you are already using Picasa, then you can use Tools-->Experimental-->Show tag as album.
I use that in Picasa quite a bit, and find it very handy.
The trouble with tags is that they are usually data attributes within a photo-management database, and if you get a wrecked/corrupt database (as has happened to me once with ACDSee and twice with Picasa), then you can lose hours of work invested in building the data in the database. They are not usually easy to recover intact. So don't rely on the resilience of the database, because they are probably not all that resilient.
My workaround: Instead rely on the data you can store within the image file. If you have mostly .JPG files then you can have EXIF data for any camera-related data, and IPTC info. for any freeform data you might want to attach to the image. When you add a caption in Picasa, it goes into the IPTC info, and is immediately searchable. So you can put in or duplicate your "tag words" into the IPTC info, and then never worry if you lose their external tags if your database gets corrupted (because you can easily recreate the tags and tagged photos using a sort).
I therefore recommend the principle of having the photo records contain their own meta-data not only as a good data-security measure, but also because it reduces your dependence on the idiosyncrasies of any particular database system. So you can use Picasa, ACDSee, Irfanview, or whatever, to utilise the meta-data.
Hopes this all makes sense or is of use.
-IainB (July 02, 2012, 07:07 AM)
--- End quote ---
IainB:
Copy of the Googlr Picasa Blog post about the shutdown of Picasa:
(Text copied to spoiler below image.)
SpoilerMoving on from Picasa
Friday, February 12, 2016 10:00 AM
Since the launch of Google Photos, we’ve had a lot of questions around what this means for the future of Picasa. After much thought and consideration, we’ve decided to retire Picasa over the coming months in order to focus entirely on a single photo service in Google Photos. We believe we can create a much better experience by focusing on one service that provides more functionality and works across mobile and desktop, rather than divide our efforts across two different products.
We know for many of you, a great deal of care has gone into managing your photos and videos using Picasa—including the hours you’ve invested and the most precious moments you’ve trusted us with. So we will take some time in order to do this right and provide you with options and easy ways to access your content. We’ve outlined below some of the changes you can expect.
Picasa Web Albums
If you have photos or videos in a Picasa Web Album today, the easiest way to still access, modify and share most of that content is to log in to Google Photos, and all your photos and videos will already be there. Using Google Photos, you can continue to upload and organize your memories, as well as enjoy other great benefits like better ways to search and share your images.
However, for those of you who don’t want to use Google Photos or who still want to be able to view specific content, such as tags, captions or comments, we will be creating a new place for you to access your Picasa Web Albums data. That way, you will still be able to view, download, or delete your Picasa Web Albums, you just won’t be able to create, organize or edit albums (you would now do this in Google Photos).
One thing to make clear is that none of this is happening today—if you have a Picasa Web Album you can keep using it as normal. We’ll start rolling out these changes on May 1, 2016.
Desktop application
As of March 15, 2016, we will no longer be supporting the Picasa desktop application. For those who have already downloaded this—or choose to do so before this date—it will continue to work as it does today, but we will not be developing it further, and there will be no future updates. If you choose to switch to Google Photos, you can continue to upload photos and videos using the desktop uploader at photos.google.com/apps.
Finally for developers, we will also be retiring some functions of the Picasa API. Developers can learn more here.
Again, none of these changes are happening today, and we’ll continue to update you along the way. We apologize for any inconvenience this transition causes, but we want to assure you that we are doing this with the aim of providing the best photos experience possible. Google Photos is a new and smarter product, that offers a better platform for us to build amazing experiences and features for you in the future.
Posted by Anil Sabharwal, Head of Google Photos
Permalink Links to this post
From <http://googlephotos.blogspot.co.nz/>
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version