Google is shutting down Picasa
On Friday, Google announced that it would discontinue the popular Picasa photo management tool in order to shift its focus to the new Google Photos service launched less than a year ago. The service will cease to exist on May 1st, 2016.
“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,” Anil Sabharwal, the head of the Google Photos team, said in a blog post. “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.”
Pictures or videos in Picasa online albums will be automatically available in people’s Google Photos accounts, according to Sabharwal. Those wishing not to shift to the new service will still be able to view, download or delete photos in Picasa albums, but the software won’t be updated and adding images won’t be an option.
“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.” Sabharwal said.
