Will Silver fx be next?

[GaryLH]

http://www.dpreview.com/news/2013/03/14/Google-shuts-down-desktop-version-of-Snapseed

I am not a user of the desktop version of this sw. But I am a user of silver fx pro... Every time I read about google buying a sw company.. It makes me wonder what will be the end result..

Did they buyin for the sw developers?? Eventually to let this product line die out. How long will the core product line managers, founders and developers stay around? Will we see them abandon the desktop for the cloud (most likely).

Adobe is going to the cloud, Apple is going to the cloud.. Yes there is a desktop components, but cloud based updates, license checking, etc.

Anyway rant off..

Gary

 

[f16sunshine]

The mobile versions of Snapseed have great potential as a SM platform (ala.. Insta/Hipsta). I bet the big G will morph this into G+ in some way. It's a fun app on mobile I use it all the time. The desktop version is meh..

 

[maclaine]

I'd never even heard of Snapseed. I imagine the reason they pulled it is because it's impossible to compete with the Photoshop behemoth. Silver Efex still seems to be the leader in the black and white film emulation software world, so I imagine its position is more stable.

 

[kdemas]

Snapseed is a superb app for IOS and Android, that's where it began and grew. The desktop apps followed and never gained wide adoption. I'm sure they worked well, Nik is a great company with superb products, but their desktop presence was very limited.

That said I wish the choice was still there to give it a whirl.

 

[Giant Ginkgo]

Yes, I'd imagine that Silver FX will be gone fairly soon, Google is one of the great destroyers of software created in-house or from purchased companies. It's sad to think of all of the beautiful image processing technology that will be lost to the world because of their purchase of Nik Software.

Google clearly doesn't have any interest in desktop software programs, or software plug-ins for competing software company's (Adobe, Apple, etc.) products. It's pretty clear that they purchased Nik Software for Android and ChromeOS, I doubt they'll leave any remaining Nik developers to work on a small potatoes project, even if it is profitable when they are trying to push people towards their current pet operating systems.

Here's a list of companies consumed by Google, and where the assets initially went:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Google

And here's a list of Google's products that have been axed (this list doesn't even include apps from purchased companies that they killed off):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_products#Discontinued_products_and_services

 

[driver]

Can a tangible copy still be purchased?

 

[VF101]

I'm really upset that Google is destroying the desktop version of Snapseed. It is a great piece of software and gives the sometimes very "clean" looking digital images a more lively look. While I also have the iPad version of Snapseed, it's no comparison to use Snapseed on my 27 inch iMac. And, by the way, Snapseed never intended to compete with Phtoshop and the likes.

 

[jarski]

would be nice to see Silver Efex filters added to Snapseed. dont believe they will kill the dedicated program anytime soon, though its true, its somewhat cumbersome being now part of Google products.