Google releases Picasa for Mac OSX

Good news if you're frustrated by iPhoto's limitations - Google Labs has just released a 'beta' version of its Picasa photo management system for the Apple OSX platform. Picasa will import a copy of the contents of the iPhoto library and offer an alternative management tool that includes the ability to manage and synchronise selected photos, with their comments and tags, with an online Picasa Web Albums photo gallery. The original iPhoto data is left alone, so you can try out the Picasa beta without fear of losing or modifying their original image files.

The Picasa for Mac application pretty much matches the feature set of Picasa 3 for Windows: photo organization, basic editing, slideshows, collages, movies and synchronization with Picasa Web Albums.

Don't be put off by the 'beta' tag - as Networkworld points out, almost half of Google's products, including well-established apps like Gmail and Google Docs, are still officially in beta.

Loz Blain