Picasa
Picasa was a cross-platform image organizer and image viewer for organizing and editing digital photos, integrated with a now defunct photo-sharing website, originally created by a company named Lifescape (which at that time was incubated by Idealab) in 2002. "Picasa" is a blend of the name of Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, the word casa (Spanish for "house") and "pic" for pictures.
Picasa version 3.9.137.141 on Windows 8.1 | |
| Original author(s) | Lifescape, Inc. |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Lifescape (Google) |
| Initial release | October 15, 2002 |
| Final release | |
| Operating system | Windows, OS X, LG Smart TV |
| Type | Image organizer, image viewer |
| License | Freeware |
| Website | picasa |
Native applications for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and macOS were available, and for Linux, the Windows version was bundled with Wine compatibility layer. An iPhoto plugin and a standalone program for uploading photos were available for Mac OS X 10.4 and later.
In July 2004, Google acquired Picasa from Lifescape and began offering it as freeware. The name was also registered by Google as an LLC. On February 12, 2016, Google announced it was discontinuing support for Picasa Desktop and Picasa Web Albums, effective March 15, 2016, and focusing on the cloud-based Google Photos as its successor. Picasa Web Albums, a companion service, was closed on May 1, 2016.