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Why I’m Not Running Picasa On My Mac
In: geek
6 Jan 2009
I’ll make this brief. I was excited when Google’s Picasa was announced for Mac since I was eager to try it with my photos. Upon installing it yesterday, I noticed something very disturbing:
On initial launch of Picasa, it forces you to scan your computer for images. It gives you two choices: 1. Scan your entire computer 2. Scan specific folders such as Documents, Pictures, and Desktop (which they choose, not you)
There is no opt-out. You either scan or you force quit the program. I don’t like this. In fact, I hate it. I don’t want Picasa to know or even care about ALL of the photos on my computer. I’d like to pick and choose which it can use. I don’t like being forced to scan my computer for anything. It bothers me for several reasons that I won’t go into here.
I’m uninstalling Picasa and I don’t think I’ll run it again. iPhoto it is.
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11 Responses to Why I’m Not Running Picasa On My Mac
Mark Carey
January 6th, 2009 at 9:13 am
Agreed, those two "options" frustrated me too. There definitely needs to be a 3rd option for manual selection, or at minimum a "skip" option not to do any scanning on initial startup.
That said, after the pain of the intial scan, it is pretty easy to manually pick and choose which folders to look for photos — go to Tools > Folder Manager and you have complete flexibility there. I did this earlier today and it quickly un-indexed the undesired folders and only showed the ones I wanted. So it can do what you want, and you may want to give it another try. They definitely need to add a 3rd option regarding the initial startup scan though…
Matt Bebich
January 6th, 2009 at 9:21 am
That didn't happen to me.
Bwana (Bwana)
January 6th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
New blog post: Why I’m Not Running Picasa On My Mac http://tinyurl.com/6u5r48
felix
January 7th, 2009 at 1:09 am
I thought I had read somewhere that it knew about iPhoto libraries and would automatically play nice with them. The functionality you describe is pretty ass. I hope they fix that soon.
I'm an Aperture user and sticking with it – but I'm jealous of that faces stuff they announced for iLife '09.
Derfman24
January 7th, 2009 at 2:20 am
I used to use Picasa, but then I just switch over to my camera's software because it is easier for me to use. My computer is a PC so I can't use iPhoto.
mathewballard
January 7th, 2009 at 2:43 am
My reason for not installing Picasa: I use Lightroom.
JoshMiller
January 8th, 2009 at 4:33 am
This is part of why I never used Picasa. It would pickl up clips and artwork from games and programs all over because it scanned everything. Also I don't want an archive of BS "funny pictures" I've downloaded to be included, I just want photos that I pick.
Daniel Hart
January 8th, 2009 at 6:16 am
I believe that is not the case with the Windows version, although it is rather hard to get around that. I've installed picasa simply for the image viewer cause it views canon's RAW format. Then I edit in photoshop. My folder system is my organizer.
Brady
January 14th, 2009 at 7:25 am
You can specify which folders you want it to scan. No problem!
You know what I hate about iPhoto is the fact that it creates duplicate files… 1 original and then 1 for the iPhoto library… what a waste!
Anyways, you should try Picasa again… it's great… best low budget photo management software out there today!
Big Jamals
December 7th, 2009 at 8:10 am
Very true, Picasa tries to get up close and personal with you, and unfortunately not everyone wants for that to happen. But still, you might want to consider that it is still a fairly small, efficient photo management program that makes life easier for the Windows users, and it mimics iPhoto for those that don’t have iLife. (Though most PC users are proud of their nonconformity to the Mac “wave,” alll of us are secretly mad we don’t have iLife. Nothing can imitate Garage Band or iMovie, Mixcraft and other people have tried, they failed )
Ali
December 7th, 2009 at 11:06 am
Picasa, Picasa, Picasa…(sigh)
The unfortunate reality of Picasa is that it is AS GOOD as iPhoto. Period. Its end there. The Ups and Downs of both add up. And for PC users out there thats a GOOD thing. For someone like Bwana, this doesnt matter. Bwana already has iLife. iLife is the secret envy OF ALL PC users. Nothing outsmarts Garage Band. Mixcraft, FL Studio, everyone tries, but nothing is as simple as GB. So, a software that has MORE features than iPhoto, an easy interface, but an annoying knack to sneak into your files for FREE and that takes LIMITED processing and HD space, I recommend Picasa. So Mac users….stay happy with iLife.