Image handling & new camera

harryhound

How does Google pay for it to be given away ?

f1charlie wrote: »

Those advertising links you see on the right hand side when you do a google search; companies who pay for their websites to come up first in searches.

I realise that Google gets more eyeballs than any other site BUT if I have downloaded free but valuable software; what is there to get my eyeballs (& brain?) back looking at more advertising ?

perplexed Harry

f1charlie

Do you not normally use Google?

harryhound

f1charlie wrote: »

Do you not normally use Google?

yes, don't we all? But I would continue to use Google, they don't have to give me their free software.

Is it something like Microsoft giving you "Hotmail" so they can keep in touch with what you are up to ? At least they would know you were still alive every time you checked for free updates and as soon as you went on line to search up could pop RHS entries offering cheap photo paper etc. ?

Harry

f1charlie

I suppose by giving software away free they encourage 'brand loyalty'. It gives you a good feeling about google, so you continue using their search engine, so that companies will continue paying to advertise on it. However it works they seem to be doing it right, considering how successful google, as a company, is.

There's loads of free software out there, and lots of it is very good. Some of it is a 'taster' for products you have to buy, some of it seems to be written by people just because they can, and we should be thankful to them as MoneySavers!

JoeA81

harryhound wrote: »

How does Google pay for it to be given away ?




I realise that Google gets more eyeballs than any other site BUT if I have downloaded free but valuable software; what is there to get my eyeballs (& brain?) back looking at more advertising ?

perplexed Harry

I think it may also be to do with the fact that picasa encourages you to upload your pictures into google's online image storage facitliy - picasaweb. And once you have started using picasaweb's free service, google hopes you will 'upgrage' your account to one with larger storage, which of course, costs money!

So thats why google gives picasa away for free, they hope it will encourage you to pay for its image hosting services!

harryhound

I have a feeling that I am fashioning a rod for my own back (?!)

Mrs Hound, this household's answer to David Bailey, has had the use of a digital camera for a year now - Holidays, Son's wedding etc. but using someone else's kit meant filling the memory with lots of snaps and then taking it down to the supermarket, burning the contents onto a CD, then simply printing copy(s) for the album ie treating the digital camera much the same as the traditional SLR.

However now that we have splashed out on her own package.

It was not exactly this but something similar with extra (2Gb) memory:

http://www.jessops.com/Products/SearchResults.aspx?searchword=ixus%2075

So incentivised by a coupon for 25 prints free and 50 at "half" price, we went into town. We also had the job of getting some visa photos out of a "photome" booth. The booth job took 30 minutes, especially after a panic over the 33mm head height demanded by the paperwork. So I volunteered to fight the wardens off the car, parked in a 60 minute bay, while Mrs Hound set off for Jessops.

You cannot really relax and read a book FOR 90 MINUTES, when any minute a bonus hunter might pop out of a doorway, snap a picture and then slap a ticket on your windscreen.

Eventually Mrs Hound reappeared, breathing fire and I got a stream of conciousness: "No I haven't...I got it loaded into the machine but.......and she had to admit the machine was not working.........it was busy......so we tried the other ........... so she burnt me a disc.........selected nearly 75......but lost count...........he tried to help......lost the lot.......start again......took the disc.....go back this afternoon.....Oh she has kept the !!!! disc..!@!#**!"

I wonder if 'processing' images on the family PC will prove a happier experience?

Harry

Networkguy

Whilst the Google software is very good I am surprised nobody has mentioned that all digital cameras do come with a whole bundle of software in the box to do everything you have just asked for.

You may well find the Google software better but do take a look at what is in the box with the camera. After all you have paid for it.

uselesswith£

I have always used picasa and found it to be great for photos. You can upload to picasa from your camera. Easy to edit and tweak your photos, add effects and an ameoba could put photos on a Disc using this software.
Can't sing the praises enough.

Found this much better than the software that came with my ricoh camera and sooooooo easy.

System

The word SNAP comes to mind. Untill last week, I too was a windows'98SE guy and now am using XP.

When I was on '98, I would search and download every photo editing suite that was free. Also any freebie disc that contained this material would be tried. I'd explore the photo sites found in mags mainly Web User. I'd play around and make decisions on whether or not they were easy to understand/handle and eliminate on the way.

I finally had such a clutter of icons on my desktop that I grouped them in two, the first was called "Hardly used" (which could have been binned) and the other I called Fav's. this contained Fastone and Picasa 2. Now when I connect my camera to the puter, any and everything appears in picasa and I'm satisfied because there are oportunities to change things, but it dosen't get too technical.

I use their message board for assistance which is available should it be required.