
Google Acquires Nik Software - denzil_correa
http://education.niksoftware.com/2012/09/17/google-acquires-nik-software/
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dpcx
Pretty sure they didn't purchase Nik Software to compete with Instagram and
Facebook; I think the iOS app was secondary.

Looking at the history that Nik has, as well as the other products they
acquired, it seems like photo editing in general was the target. Something to
make Picasa a (hopefully) better product in the long run.

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stan_rogers
Snapseed is probably a _huge_ part of it (and it's already very much cross-
platform). For the other aspects, there are a number of other companies Google
might have chosen to acquire instead (Topaz Labs — which would be my choice as
a scrappy, lightweight, innovative photo-centric company — Alien Skin, etc.),
but they're absent in the mobile space.

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da_n
Is this just a new Google strategy lately to buy up awesome iOS apps and kill
them off, death by a thousand aqui-hires? Let's hope they don't kill off
Snapseed.app, I will be extremely annoyed if they 'Sparrow' or 'HTML5-crapify'
it.

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signalsignal
I think it is funny you mention that in light of the recent comments on HN
about how html5 isn't the problem but the implementation that Facebook took.

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georgemcbay
Congrats to Nik Software.

Google -- if you let Nik's "non-sexy" non-mobile plugins for
Photoshop/Lightroom, etc die on the vine I will never forgive you. Either
commit to them or sell them off to someone who will keep them maintained.

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aaronbrethorst
Oh no. It took me a minute to realize why their name sounded familiar. I will
be unbelievably pissed if Google kills off their Efex Pro products.

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famousactress
Fingers crossed for this to provide a foothold for a GOOG San Diego campus :)

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gregsq
With android in cameras now, that already have bracketing, together with the
increasing focus on camera performance in mobile phones, having HDR expertise
would seem to me to be highly valuable as well.

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thisismyname
I like google +, I really do, but look at your google + feed, then look at
your facebook feed. They are both vying for the time. Its clear as to who is
winning that war.

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dannyr
You're only as good as your network. Your social feed is different than mine.

My Google+ feed is way more useful to me. I follow a lot of fellow developers
& tech personalities who post long-form content that can't fit on Twitter.

My Facebook feed has too much personal/trivial posts that I value it less. Not
to mention the endless political rant.

I actually think that Facebook & Google+ comparison is not right.

The people I follow on Google+ are more similar to the people I follow on
Twitter. But Google+ has an advantage because it has no 140-character
restriction & displays media (video/picture) better.

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aschobel
17 years! That is some serious dedication, kudos to the team.

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checoivan
I hope the products aren't discountinued. I use silver effex quite often, it's
the best back and white converter I've tried yet.

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msbarnett
Sadly, given Google's history, all of the extremely useful Nik plugins are now
living on borrowed time.

This (acquihire? patent-grab?) is a gut-punch to photographers, if nothing
else.

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zerohm
So Picasa might actually support Nikon RAW files? (They currently sort of
work, but look like crap and don't format correctly)

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mtgx
So why didn't they just buy Instagram? They had plenty of opportunity to do
it. I hope it's not just because they didn't realize its potential _against_
Facebook and its potential to enhance an already very photographer-friendly
Google+, because then Google has a problem spotting the high potential
businesses.

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untog
Given the price Facebook paid, I think we can be quite sure that there were
other interested parties. I can imagine that Google was one of them.

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poopicus
Wow, have you checked out the comments on that page? Virtually zero
congratulatory messages, just many, many self-entitled people bemoaning the
"downfall" of the company. Good on Nik Software I say, they worked hard for
this, let them enjoy it.

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cocoflunchy
Let's just hope that they won't stop developing all of their products!

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buster
Mhh, given that G+ hsa an awesome photo community, and the awesomeness of the
Nik Tools (love them).. Hopefully they build that stuff into picasa and make
it free for all!!

