
Picnik Acquired by Google - alexandros
http://blog.picnik.com/2010/03/google-acquires-picnik/
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eam
Maybe the picnik acquisition has a purpose, possibly to ship it with chromeOS
considering it _is_ based on the cloud.

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ShabbyDoo
It's notable that Google is promoting HTML5 quite heavily but just acquired a
product that is tied heavily to proprietary technology.

Edit: How feasible is it to build Picnik using HTML5 stuff (SVG, background
image grinding, etc.)?

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bobbyi
It would be more notable if they didn't diversify and bet the whole company on
HTML 5.

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ShabbyDoo
They have a great opportunity to twist Microsoft's arm with HTML5. Chrome's
the fastest browser out there now, and it will be the only option on some
devices (ChromeOS/Android). Also, if the Firefox folks don't have the
manpower/funding for a good HTML5 implementation, it will be no skin off
Google's back to help them out. So, if MSFT doesn't come up with a good
implementation in IE9/10/whatever, they risk being the odd man out ["For best
results, use Firefox, Chrome, or another HTML5-compliant browser for this
site."] Microsoft would have no choice but to completely concede the user
experience to an abstraction layer built on top of its cash cow.

And, what chips has Google actually put on the table? One thing might be that
they aren't putting out a set of Open Source but non-standard plugins for
Chrome/Firefox/IE to replace Flash. Google is implicitly taking the risk that
Adobe will implicitly own the web if more and more sites standardize on Flash-
based stuff. Perhaps, since it's more likely that the world will rally around
HTML5 than around Google's Flash competitor (or Silverlight), Google is
actually adopting a least-risk strategy?

Also, for all we know, Google has a set of plugins waiting in the wings should
HTML5 die on the vine. It was rumored that Microsoft had a version of Office
for Linux ready to go should the desktop market tip so heavily out of its
favor that it risked losing its Office semi-monopoly if it didn't support
Linux.

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freetard
Don't forget Chrome Frame.

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messel
To sit and chat with the gents who plan strategic acquisitions at Google would
be a fun day. Great buyers market. Hope the exit was HUGE.

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CoachRufus87
i still wonder why acquisition prices are so secretive

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rationalbeaver
From the acquirer's side, I'd guess competitive reasons. The amount they were
willing to pay sends a signal to their competition about how important that
particular product is to them (and if they paid a lot, that message is often
very loud and clear).

From the seller's side there's the issue of respect for the acquirer's
preferences as well as the fact that broadcasting your payday is kinda like
broadcasting your salary: It can create some awkward situations. Especially if
you're trying to keep some non-owner employees around.

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drawkbox
Flash and Flex based app, interesting acquisition. They are getting integrated
into many online photo services and it is a very well done usable app for all
skill levels. I also wonder if aviary.com is going to be acquired as they are
just about as good and have many apps.

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there
i wonder if yahoo will keep using picnik for flickr's integrated photo editor.

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barredo
That's the first thing I thought too. I wonder the deal will be some clauses,
if it includes something about exclusivity (to later become some sort of
'Google Docs Photo Editor') I guess Yahoo! will need to dump it or change for
another like Aviary (which went free last week).

Why didn't Yahoo! bought it? I really would like to know

Edit:

 _4\. Will I still be able to access other social networking and photo storage
sites from Picnik, or access Picnik from those social networking and photo
storage sites? Yes!_

It seems so

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wmeredith
Ugh. I groan every time pone more service I like gets herded into the horrible
"attached to your Google Account" profile management hell. I wish Google would
find a better way to integrate this stuff. Or just let them stand alone.

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freetard
They did let it stand alone. And what's wrong with attaching it to a google
account anyway?

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ytinas
Well for one thing, anonymity. If you are very free with your opinions on e.g.
youtube, but use your real name with gmail it can be really annoying when a
purchase fuses these two.

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teej
I had the joy of doing one of the very first picnik integrations before their
API was public. I got to work directly with Darrin and it was a joy all
around. Super sharp and overwhelmingly nice guy.

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dschobel
And they're not summarily killing the product. What a pleasant surprise.

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greyman
That is yet to be seen. But generally, Google mainly used to screw up the
social applications, so this one should be ok. ;-) And, as it was mentioned,
this one is probably needed for Chrome OS.

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alexandros
...and so Google entered Adobe's turf.

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alex_h
Picnik is built on Adobe Flex, so I'd say there was a bit of turf gained by
both Google and Adobe

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alexandros
A small victory for Flex, a bigger problem for Photoshop.

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prawn
How many people are buying (not pirating) Photoshop to make basic changes to
their photos? Maybe Photoshop Elements (if it still exists), but other than
that I don't think this would really damage the Creative Suite all that much
as they're quite different markets.

All the people I know who might use a web-based image editor have either been
struggling along with Paint or pirated Photoshop at some point.

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there
adobe already has photoshop.com for web-based image editing, so i doubt picnik
changing hands has any affect on them.

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zaatar
But how many people knew of it, or use photoshop.com? I had never heard of it
until now. Adobe's doing a pretty piss-poor job of marketing it if it is
supposed to be a stand-in free web-based version of photoshop for people to do
basic touch-ups on their pictures ...

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Naga
To be honest, I had no idea what Picnik was. Is it very popular?

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dnsworks
I thought this happened two years ago? Or was that Picasa? Maybe there's
someone in Google's M&A department that really likes companies with 6-letter
names that start with P?

