A-MEN - Mona Nomura

I hardly used iPhoto '08. Or '07, or... - Derrick

really? you don't reckon the facial recognition is pretty impressive? - Zee.

Picasa launched it months ago... :( - Mona Nomura

really?? facial recognition? - Zee.

Zee, Picasa already has it, and I don't have to pay for it. - Duncan Riley

Waiting for a FF Apple fanboy to respond but I don't think we have any...do we? - Mark Krynsky

wow, how does it work on picasa? Is it in the mac version? or does it only work online? - Zee.

iPhoto moved to trash :-) - Mel Buckpitt

Yeah... but Picasa doesn't come installed on your iMac... Shout all you want but every person I know who have bought Macs in the past 3 years use iPhoto cause it's already there. In fact, hardly any of them use a non-Apple app besides FireFox and Office. It's not always about best but first to the eyeballs. - Johnny Worthington

just reading about it now...i had no idea! Guess because i haven't used picasa until it's mac release...crazy.. - Zee.

The added facial recognition features tied in with the direct Facebook sync will be huge for the Mac switcher audience. The cost however is quite an annoyance, especially if you purchased Leopard recently. - Justin Wah Kan

yeah, the cost is ridiculous - Zee.

The Apple fanboy I'm thinking of is on holiday in the Bermuda Triangle. - Sharron Field via twhirl

hey but that facebook sync is pretty cool! :P - Zee.

$49 upgrade is expensive? I'd pay that just for iMovie. + the Apple apps have a better interface - sorry Google fanboys ;-) - PXLated

Johnny brings up a good point. Perhaps Google needs to start an anti-trust case against Apple to stop them from pre-nstalling iPhoto allowing users the ability to make their own decision for photo management :) - Mark Krynsky

I have been using Picasa for over a year now (maybe even longer). Picasa 3 is my default photo viewer. On the PC it is the best way to view and manage photos. It's too bad that more people don't use it - it truly is a great piece of software. - Ron West

Johnny, that's because there hasn't been a decent alternative until now. Picasa for Mac was released YESTERDAY. Of course they don't use alternatives...because there hasn't really been any of note. - Duncan Riley

Anything Apple does shall be praised as if it's the new off-white messiah. - Steven Cains

PXLated, the upgrade is $79 US so will probably be about $130 Australian for me, and that's on top of the upgrade I purchased last year as well. These are incremental improvements, welcomed yes, but nothing compelling when they are available for free from Google. From what I can gather with the other apps, it's a similar picture. Small things, nothing major. - Duncan Riley

I'm currently a user of the Fast Stone Image viewer (PC) http://www.faststone.org/FSViewe.... It's an awesome lightweight image management app with some great editing features to boot. Prior to that I was an ACDsee user. I tried Picasa a while back and definitely will give it another shot. - Mark Krynsky

The point I'd make PXLated is that given these are small improvements, why should we pay for them? Why can't people who have purchased an upgrade previously for example get the new one for free? - Duncan Riley

Duncan, they don't use alternatives because the ones that comes on their computer works... And it works with all the other apps that come on their computer... iLife suite? In the real world, you don't have to be better, you have to be 10x better to get someone to switch. That's why so many normal users (and they are the ones that makes Apple/Microsoft the coin) still use Windows Movie Maker. - Johnny Worthington

Johnny, so why would they upgrade then if they're happy with their lot? - Duncan Riley

Easy... The Fan Boys will buy, those looking for an upgrade to existing work flows will buy. Some others may but that is not what makes Apple the coin. The iLife suite is really designed to sell new computers. "Sir, Madam, look at what this shiny new iMac can do... It is so simple, and it works. Don't know how to use it, just plug in your camera, OSX will do the rest. I'll grab one for you". Apple sells an experience through it's hardware. And fan Boys aren't new, so I am surprised at your level of shock. - Johnny Worthington

Fan boys are one thing, major respected blogs are another. We own twice as many Apple products than we have people in our house, so I'd probably qualify in the fan boy stakes, but this is a con and this time I'm not going to play. Any objective analysis shows the upgrade is iLame in terms of cost vs features vs competition - Duncan Riley

Indeed, I'm not jazzed either... and Picasa does rock... but alas, what comes on the system is all to often what gets used. Let's hope it pushes Apple to make iPhoto greater - Johnny Worthington

THANK YOU Duncan! I completely agree. - Jesse Stay

And the iWork "enhancements" blow. Oh, boy: an opportunity to sign up for pay services! - Chris Baskind

Picasa for Mac requires an Intel proc. iPhoto '09 works with a G4, G5 or an Intel - plus the Picasa UI sucks, imo. - Drew