PICASA ON LINUX!!!

I have some issues here.

1. Wine seems like a bad way to go, I guess long term it makes it easier for google, but not soo hot for linux users. As a Contributor to some of the more obscure releases (Based on Slackware) I see this being problematic. Especially in getting it to intergrate with the rest of your linux stuff.

2. No really X intergration. Neither KDE nor Gnome lack photo tools. Gphoto does the camera's really well and Gimp is up with photoshop in terms of power. I welcome the basic editing features of a simple program like this, but as they don't use common libraries this will mean simple copy and paste (yes thats what the 3rd button on your mouse does in most linux distro's) wont work as its in an isolated wine enviroment.

3. Limited community. Google use linux a lot, and they could have worked with a wider community who could have helped port many google apps to linux, instead they did it in house with programmers who didn't (in googles own confession) know how to build apps in Linux. I am pleased they want to suport Linux, I hope they will do even more of it and better, but they need to remember that most of the time the linux programming community can, and will help if you give them a chance. In linux the community matters more than the OS. Its weird, but true.

4. Wine itself is a problem to many linux users. Wine takes windows API's and creates the documented, and sometimes undocumented "features" of the API. that is why the windows metafile "bug" (security hole) was also in wine. as a result Wine often leaves security issues that can open your system to attack. a Security hole undr wine is still a security hole, and Graphics is a very weak part of windows. The app has embedded wine, so you may not even realise you are running it.

That said, Its great for Linux to be taken seriously by the likes of google. I hope they will allow us to help them make really good apps for the future. If you know that your free windows tools like Itunes, Google Earth, Picassa, open office, Firefox, Thunderbird, all the Web 2.0 stuff and the likes will still be there in Linux, its easier to make the change without the steep learning curve that comes from changing all your software at once. At the moment you can have some of it. Hopefully soon, you can have all of it. If wine is the only way so be it, but Native porting would work so much better.

So nice try Google, we love to have you aboard, but don't forget we have the skills in our community to help if you let us, You don't have to go it alone.

Lets hope we can all work together

and Look I didn't even mention the GPL or lack of source code issues that plague slashdot. Personally I dont care, but I would like it to work a well as it possibly can for the widest possible number of linux users.

For now. I'll be sticking to Gphoto and Gimp.

Maybe for Google Earth ... But my GPS thing is ok for me

Download Squad has a few more details

http://tinyurl.com/objlb