
DxO acquires Nik Collection assets from Google - petepete
https://nikcollection.dxo.com/
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dschuler
This is fantastic!

The Nik Collection can do some amazing things (and is worth spending some time
with if you haven't already). Their contrast and polarizer tools are
particularly good, as well as their B/W workflow.

From what I was told by a former Googler, they acquired Nik for the team, but
didn't really have a use for the tools they created - they were mostly
interested in the skills for Google Photos. At least Google found a way to
pass the software on to another owner that will likely keep developing these
tools, although it took a couple of years for that to happen.

PS - RAW editing tools seem to all have their own strengths and weaknesses. In
my experience, Lightroom is the easiest to use (and gives good results
overall), but Capture One (by Phase One) has much better color management.
Skin tones just look 'right' with the default flow, and it's free (lite
version) / discounted for Sony cameras. Canon's Digital Photo Professional is
free (for supported cameras) and rather clunky, but it can produce very sharp
results with some 'soft' lenses, like the 16-36mm f/2.8 II.

If you have a photo you really like and have some time to get the most out of
it, you could produce a TIFF via Digital Photo Professional (assuming you have
a Canon), then process with Lightroom/Capture One for basic settings, and
finally adjust to your liking with Nik Collection.

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mbesto
As a tech M&A guy, I'm actually surprised Google doesn't sell off more of it's
corporate assets that it no longer wants to pursue. I suspect as
revenues/profits start to normalize (i.e. don't grow at exponential rates),
the street will put more pressure on them to do so.

~~~
ronilan
The vast majority of what google has grown in the "moat" and the "scorched
land" that surrounds "the castle" of search and paid clicks is at best useless
and often toxic. And then there is YouTube.

Edit: when useless, it is useless to a buyer, but not to a user. When toxic,
it is toxic to both.

~~~
mbesto
> useless to a buyer

To the potential buyer of the asset or a client buying a Google service?

Good example, non-Google related - Pinboard buying Delicious.

~~~
ronilan
Excellent example.

Can a one-man-show benefit from the disposal of a Google owned asset? Most
likely.

Parent was talking "tech M&A", "corporate assets" and "the street". Not same.

~~~
mbesto
I was the OP btw :)

I'd have to dig further but I have to imagine there are products that are
created by Google that don't reach $100M+ in revenue that Google eventually
folds. Something more likely - a product that is $10M in revenue that plateaus
and could be sold off as an asset.

I honestly don't know, just throwing it out there.

~~~
ronilan
Google doesn't operate that way.

Almost everything that comes out is a loss leader in one way or another (and
more often than not, in one way and another).

You can dig, but it will most likely be extremely hard to find a stand alone
product/service that plateaued at such a revenue level.

Wishing that such a product would be "created by Google" puts the bar way way
too high.

The Nik Collection, for example, arrived via acquisition...

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soperj
What is the nix collection?

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camus2
Apparently a collection of plugins for Adobe Lightroom.

~~~
petepete
The tools can all be used standalone as well as directly from LR, Capture One
and other processing/image editing software.

Before Google made them free they weren't cheap, $500 for the collection.

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ethanpil
Google's photo strategy is so strange.

Photos is a great app and has universal appeal - powerful, intuitive editing,
easy and smart search, free backup, etc.

Snapseed is also one of the best mobile photo editing tools around, certainly
the best free one IMHO.

My guess is they used the Nik technology in these tools to make the editing
and retouching functions work so well, and now they sold it with contingent
that they can use it in perpetuity...

Here is the weird part -why wouldn't Google merge Snapseed editing with
Photos? It would be a killer combination and dominate the consumer space,
locking in users to the Goole platform. Isn't that ultimately what they want?.

I always assumed Snapseed and Photos would merge one day. Yet, it has never
come, and instead Google is empowering others in the space with their tech.

Maybe they have "good enough" dominance in the area and don't care anymore?
Maybe all they care about is tying users into the Drive platform and Photos is
just another funnel that did good enough and can be ignored?

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izacus
Why would they have to be merged? What would we, most of the users, gain by
having a huge bloated gallery app dragging a whole editing software with it?
Is installing that other app really such a completely exausting impossible
endeavor?

What's wrong with tools that do their core feature very well and can share
data between them?

~~~
ethanpil
They dont share data well. I cannot select "Edit with SnapSeed" and have it
roll back into google photos without getting a second copy of my picture.
Would love to see that kind of integration - but they dont even have that.

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ninegunpi
Well, Google levelled up their game on Snapseed at some point, so why milk the
cow you don't know how to feed, makes sense.

~~~
wlesieutre
The surprising thing here is that Google let DxO have it. I was expecting them
to let the cow starve to death because they got bored with it.

~~~
slantyyz
Well they did sell Sketchup to Trimble when they got bored with that.

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therealmarv
This is good news. As a professional photographer there at least 2-3 filters
in the Nik Collection I could not find somewhere else. I was worried Nik will
disappear (I still bought them expensive in former days).

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pdimitar
Is there a CEO who is able to make an announcement without claiming they
revolutionized something?

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maxxxxx
Such an announcement would be really disruptive!

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djaychela
Not sure how to read the headline versus the content - my take is that the
current version will remain free but the new version will not (so I don't see
that there's much change there, given that probably everyone who wanted it has
it already and it's widely available elsewhere?)

"The current version will remain available for free on DxO’s dedicated website
, while a new versionis planned for mid-2018"

[1] - [https://nikcollection.dxo.com/wp-
content/uploads/2017/10/Nik...](https://nikcollection.dxo.com/wp-
content/uploads/2017/10/Nik-Software-Press-Release-English.pdf)

~~~
samastur
Last released Google version does not work on macOS Sierra (tried and failed).
If they fix nothing else but support for all recent versions it will be a step
forward.

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asadlionpk
Hmm, works for me. How does it fail?

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mattkevan
As far as I can see it’s not supported beyond Adobe CC 2015. Tried to apply a
filter in Photoshop 2017 and it unexpectedly quit.

Really glad that Nik is being maintained again. While I was happy that Google
released it for free, it was essentially abandonware.

~~~
dwringer
I don't have a Mac and don't know if you've tried this, but you might still be
able to run the standalone programs directly from the installation directory
for making atomic edits to photos, then import those as new layers into your
project. It isn't as good as using them as plugins, which lets you readjust
settings on-the-fly, but it has worked for me as a hobbyist.

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turtlebits
Have to wonder if this has anything to do with DxO rating the Pixel 2 as the
"phone camera with the best image quality".

~~~
bitmapbrother
Do you think all of the reviewers gushing over the Pixel 2 camera are also in
on it?

