Picasa for Linux is no Longer Supported by Google

I stopped installing it on my client systems because it was too old. There hasn't been much work done on the other versions either. I expect the standalone version to eventually be discontinued and be replaced by a web-based tool.

It's no loss.

Actually, it is a loss. No, not because it's a good app. It really isn't. It is, however, more bad press about the Linux desktop and fodder for those who say that Linux is irrelevant on the desktop or has a miniscule, unimportant market share. Major ISV support (or the lack thereof) helps define how the market sees the OS.

Remember OS/2? How many people are aware that is alive, well and actively developed. The name changed to eComStation (eCS) but it's still OS/2. Granted that's a proprietary OS but without ISV support and with a limited application set would you consider it even if it was free?

Red Hat is a billion dollar company Android has 48% market share. Linux desktop market share is maybe 2%

Such a situation has its advantages. The hype is a little ephemeral

Quoting: As we continue to enhance Picasa, it has become difficult to maintain parity on the Linux version.

Translation:

We don't care about Picasa, any more.

And none of our Windows devs know or care about Linux enough to work on it -- they say it's too hard.

And none of our Linux devs are interested on maintaining a Windows app on their own time -- they say they have better native apps on their own Linux boxes, and figure other Linux users have, as well.

The people we pay to do this sort of thing, can't; and the people who could, won't.

Quoting: So today, we’re deprecating Picasa for Linux and will not be maintaining it moving forward.

So we're dealing with this decisively: We're marking Picasa For Linux as "officially depreciated" -- and forgetting about it.

It's just business.

(cue theme from "The Godfather")

@montezuma: I see you've bought into the 2% myth that's so popular. It's also completely bogus. See: http://broadcast.oreilly.com/2010/09/debunking-the-1-myth.ht... I really need to do an updated article on this subject.

Picasa was never a "native Linux application." The Linux download was a Windows app bundled with Wine. It won't be missed.

Caitlyn,

Nah I don't buy any figure on linux desktop usage since it is usually downloaded. The true number is a subject of speculation but from my own experience with a large number of pc users it is small compared to MS and among my acquaintances also small compared to OSX.

The whole idea that it was a Windows app bundled with Wine -- yes, I tried it once, way back -- made it a bit of a hot mess.