 | |
| Developer(s) | |
|---|---|
| Stable release | 3.9 (Build 141.259)
/ February 9, 2016 |
| Operating system | Windows, Linux, Mac OS X |
| Type | Digital photo organizer |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | picasa.google.com |
| |
| Developer(s) | |
|---|---|
| Stable release | 3.9 (Build 141.259)
/ February 9, 2016 |
| Operating system | Windows, Linux, Mac OS X |
| Type | Digital photo organizer |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | picasa.google.com |
Picasa is a software application for organizing and editing photos. It was first created by Idealab. The name "Picasa" is a blend of the last name of Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, the phrase mi casa for "my house" and "pic" for pictures. In July 2004, Google purchased Picasa and began offering it as a free download.
There was a version for Windows XP and Windows Vista, as well as a version for Linux. For Windows 98 and Windows Me, only an older version was available. There was also an iPhoto plugin or program for uploading photos available for Mac OS X 10.4 and later.
On February 12, 2016, Google announced it was "Moving on from Picasa" and the Picasa desktop application would be discontinued on March 15, 2016. Google stated that the primary reason for retiring Picasa was that it wanted to focus its efforts "entirely on a single photos service" the cross-platform, web-based Google Photos.
Picasa Web Albums (PWA) was a photo-sharing web application created by Google and was similar to websites such as Flickr and Zooomr. Picasa Web Albums was first announced on June 6, 2006. When introduced, it came with 250 MB free space. On March 7, 2007, it was upgraded to 1GB.
Users with accounts at Google could store and share 1GB of photos for free. Users were able to purchase more storage space with these plans:
| Plans: no. of Gigabytes | Cost per Year in US$ | Cost of 1GB per Year in US$ |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | 20 | 2.00 |
| 40 | 75 | 1.875 |
| 150 | 250 | 1.667 |
| 400 | 500 | 1.25 |
Users could upload pictures and videos by using either a web interface, through Picasa 2.5.0 or later on Microsoft Windows, using the Exporter for iPhoto, the Aperture to Picasa Web Albums plug-in, or Uploader on Mac OS X, or F-Spot on Linux.
No ads were shown on Picasa Web Albums in either the free or paid accounts. The Terms of Service allowed Google to use the uploaded photos and videos to display on the website or via RSS feeds, and also for promoting Google services without needing to pay the users.
On February 12, 2016, Google announced they would retire Picasa Web Albums (also called Picasaweb) so they could focus entirely on a single photo service called Google Photos. The retirement of Picasa Web Albums was effective on August 1, 2016. All photos and videos formerly in Picasa Web Albums were moved by Google to an archived platform called Album Archive.
There are no versions of Picasa for Windows 95 or NT. The latest version offered for Windows 98/ME is 2.0.0 Build 18.84. The latest version for Windows 2000/XP/Vista/Windows 7 is 3.9 Build 141.259.
See also version 2 release notes and version 3 release notes
Picasa for Mac was launched in 2008. A plugin was available for iPhoto to upload to the Picasa Web Albums hosting service. There was also a standalone Picasa Web Albums uploading tools for OS X 10.4 or later. Using Darwine or similar compatibility layers, however, Picasa can run on Mac OS X.
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