Picasa for Linux

[Xethron]

Hey guys! We urgently need your help!

Google has ceased all development on Picasa for Linux due to low adoption of Picasa 3.0 among Linux users.

If you love Picasa and would like Google to rethink this, click here (http://goo.gl/1Pfgu)!

I believe there is a market for Picasa on Linux, and it would be a great boost for Linux if Google started supporting us with their applications!

I mean, lets face it, one of the problems with Linux is proper support from large third party companies. Google might be our answer!

If we can get 1000 people to join we might have a chance! Thanks for your help.
Together, we can do anything!

[~Plue]

edited out// nvm

[jmp88]

That really sucks, picasa is my main image management software! Weird that they would stop supporting something that never really existed in the first place though. Picasa has always run as a windows binary through wine. How hard can it be to keep releasing it that way?

Anyways, I'd love to support this cause but I don't have a facebook account. Any way I can show my support without one?

[jerome1232]

That is sad, One thing I love about google is their support of linux apps!

I don't use picasa, although I have played with it and would love to start using it in the near future. Definitely giving your link a hit! They need to know we are out here!

[Copper Bezel]

"Picasa for Linux" is just the Windows binary shipped with Wine. You can still install the Windows binary using Wine. *Shrug*

[jerome1232]

It still makes me feel better getting a repository to install it with.

[Xethron]

Anyways, I'd love to support this cause but I don't have a facebook account. Any way I can show my support without one?
jmp88, yes, you can! We need this group to grow to at least 1000 users. Then I will set up a petition that everyone can sign. But until then we need to get the word on the street. So help spread the link I guess. :P



"Picasa for Linux" is just the Windows binary shipped with Wine.
This is exactly what we want to change. We don't want a windows binary of Picasa on Wine... We want Picasa integrated with Linux. I mean it uses windows file explorer to look for files. Why can't it use gnome or KDE??


It still makes me feel better getting a repository to install it with.
Agreed!

[Xethron]

Great! 51 people already signed up. If all the current members can get only 20 extra people, then we can start setting up the petition. :P

[rewyllys]

Xethron, how about providing a way to sign up for your Picasa group without involving Facebook (which I refuse to join out of concern for my privacy)?

[earthmeLon]

Xethron, how about providing a way to sign up for your Picasa group without involving Facebook (which I refuse to join out of concern for my privacy)?

^

[Iowan]

Not really a support request - moved to Cafe.

[Khakilang]

Yep! Just join. I do use Picasa for fast editing of my images. It is sad indeed that they no longer support the Linux version.

[wolfen69]

I think it's pretty sad in the first place that google would abandoned this considering most of their business is linux based. In the end it doesn't affect me so,....

[KiwiNZ]

If there were a market for it surely Google would know this by the number of downloads. Clearly the Linux version has not been downloaded in sufficient quantities to demonstrate to them that it is viable to continue with the cost of development.

[CraigPaleo]

Well then, I suppose the best petition would be to download it. http://picasa.google.com/linux/download.html#picasa30

[wolfen69]

If there were a market for it surely Google would know this by the number of downloads. Clearly the Linux version has not been downloaded in sufficient quantities to demonstrate to them that it is viable to continue with the cost of development.

I don't understand why Google doesn't blatantly support linux, since a lot of their success depended on it.

[KiwiNZ]

I don't understand why Google doesn't blatantly support linux, since a lot of their success depended on it.

Two words......

'Balance Sheet'

[Xethron]

Xethron, how about providing a way to sign up for your Picasa group without involving Facebook (which I refuse to join out of concern for my privacy)?
Dear rewyllys and earthmeLon,

I will create a proper petition in due course. I just want some platform to begin on. Its easy to promote the group on Facebook and everyone can invite their friends. With a website its a bit harder to tell everyone about it.

So when the FB group reaches 1,000 I will set up a website where the "non-Facebook" users can sign up as well.

Thanks for your support. :)

[areteichi]

(Just in case someone isn't aware of this.)

I've just been installing the latest version in VirtualBox and overwriting the entire folder into the Linux version.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=7996415&postcount=30

This method has been working since 3.5 up to the current 3.8. At least a workaround until Google decides to make some effort ;)

[smellyman]

Xethron, how about providing a way to sign up for your Picasa group without involving Facebook (which I refuse to join out of concern for my privacy)?

Oh the irony........

[Spr0k3t]

I actually like Picasa... and have used it before the google acquisition. The big problem is, it doesn't look likely they will ever open source the app due to contractual obligations. The wine-binary release is quite possibly the best we will ever see from google. What I think needs to happen, instead of a petition to release a Linux version, a petition to release Picasa into OpenSource would be better. It would draw interest from other platforms as well.

[sydbat]

To the OP - Online petitions do not work. Ever. You could get a million people to "sign" your online petition, and it will be ignored because it has no validity. It is a waste of time.

As another person suggested in this thread, the only valid type of "online petition" is to download Picasa. That sends a real message to Google in the form of "hey, people are actually downloading this application, maybe we should continue to support it!"

As for Picasa, I personally do not like it. And I know many people who have tried it and not liked it because it does not do what I/ we expected it to do. Sure, it has a lot of bells and whistles, but bells and whistles are pointless if what it is supposed to do is diametrically opposed to what it really does.

[BlacqWolf]

Aww, that sucks, but didn't Google just port Picasa to Linux using Wine anyways?

[Spr0k3t]

Aww, that sucks, but didn't Google just port Picasa to Linux using Wine anyways?

Yeah, it was a binary wrapped port. Meaning the application held the program, a specific version of WINE, and the Gecko engine inside of a Linux friendly container. Now, why it was done that way I will never know. Many people who want to use apps like Picasa will have WINE already installed. Could have save approximately 12MB per install really. EVE Online is done the same way, a binary wrapped container.

Sure, it gets the job done, but how effective is it once complete?

[BlacqWolf]

Yeah, it was a binary wrapped port. Meaning the application held the program, a specific version of WINE, and the Gecko engine inside of a Linux friendly container. Now, why it was done that way I will never know. Many people who want to use apps like Picasa will have WINE already installed. Could have save approximately 12MB per install really. EVE Online is done the same way, a binary wrapped container.

Sure, it gets the job done, but how effective is it once complete?

Yeah, I wish they would have actually made a Linux version of the application instead of being lazy and porting it using wine. Picasa inside of Windows is pretty good, why not have the very same goodness inside of Ubuntu? :x