Picasa 3 in Software

Picasa's print output is impressive but what really makes the program stand out is its online sharing. This has always been a massive strength with Picasa letting you quickly upload selected files to Google's Web Albums which provides 1GB of free online storage. Once uploaded, you can then visit the site to invite friends and family to view your images. Alternatively, you can now do this - upload and invite or email images - using the new streamlined Share command.

More powerful than this is the ability to sync your folders so that whenever you make changes to images locally these are automatically updated online. And you can also set it up so only starred images are synchronised.

It might seem strange but ultimately Google's search and web-based expertise proves more valuable for handling digital photos than Adobe's in-depth bitmap editing know-how. Picasa can't compete with Photoshop Elements for hands-on pixel-based photo editing power - and doesn't try. Instead Picasa 3 makes it simple to rapidly bring out the best in your images and then share the best with others. That's exactly what most users want to do with their photos and explains why Picasa 3 remains the best alternative to the pure editing power of Elements. The fact that Picasa 3 also happens to be free is a bonus.

Author: Tom Arah