Picnik to shut down
After acquiring online photo editor, Picnik.com, Google is shutting down the company as a separate entity but Picnik staff will remain and all premium users will be refunded their annual premium fee as features of the product are said to be rolled into Google+ as a native photo editor.
“As we head into 2012, we’ve been sticking to some old resolutions — the need to focus on building amazing products that millions of people love to use every day,” Google said in a statement. “That means taking a hard look at products that replicate other features, haven’t achieved the promise we had hoped for or can’t be properly integrated into the overall Google experience.”
Picnik wrote to customers, “Since joining Google in 2010, we have been creating editing magic in Google products while continuing to keep Picnik awesome. But now we get to focus on even awesomer things. Picnik will be closing on April 19, 2012.”
Free users will benefit the most as this spring, they will get all premium features for free and they will simply be able to use the service within their Google+ account, however, Picnik users without Google+ will have to seek alternatives or sign up for Google’s social network.
Premium users that choose to leave can pull all of their photos from their Picnik account to their desktop via zip file by using the “Picnik Takeout” feature offered on the web app’s landing page, but the company hints that they will soon offer the ability to send a copy of all of their Picnik photos to a private album in Google+.
We have long written about the virtues of Picnik for the non-Photoshop savvy and have been using it here every day for many, many years, and it appears we may continue to extol the awesomeness that is Picnik, only we won’t refer to it as Picnik anymore. There is no word as to how Google will rebrand it, but this is part of Google’s continuing effort to conglomerate all of their services into each other and make them aesthetically consistent rather than dozens of separate companies that do not integrate into each other.
Diane Allen
January 22, 2012 at 3:51 am
WILL WE BE ABLE TO USE THIS OR A SIMILAR PRODUCT FOR EDITING PHOTOS ON GOOGLE AFTER PICNIK CLOSES? THIS IS SUCH AN AWESOME PRODUCT AND EASY TO USE.I WOULD LOVE TO STAY WITH A GOOGLE PRODUCT.
THANKS
George
January 22, 2012 at 7:56 am
Picnik's main utility for me is the ability to edit my flickr uploads within flickr. I doubt I'll be following it into Google+ as I am more interested in photography than social networking. I hope flickr will find a replacement service. Otherwise there is Google's own Picasa (which I hope will stay independent of google+) and faststone.
Tinu
January 22, 2012 at 7:07 pm
I hope Google doesn't screw this up – they've made a couple of glaring missteps recently in abandoning or retooling certain things. Picnik was fine the way it was. It works and it has features I use frequently – at one point I used it every day.
The early changes Google made to Picasa to integrate Picnik were great, but starting in the fall, they began to have fewer features that were less effective, forcing me to leave the G+ version of Picasa, and edit photos in Picnik, download them, then upload them into G+ or Picasa. Very annoying.
Lani Rosales
January 22, 2012 at 7:17 pm
I have faith – their rebranding efforts have been wonderful so far, and if they simply port the service over to G+ for free, it will rock just like their new meme generator, don't you think? Wishful thinking?
Ruthmarie
January 23, 2012 at 3:47 am
Probably wishful thinking. I don't like Google+ and have no intention of being forced to use it. If they keep cramming it down my throat – I will delete my Google+ account. Taking a good thing, destroying it only to manipulate it so that people are forced to use additional services is a game that I am sick of. The suits ruin everything given the opportunity.
MaryAnn
January 23, 2012 at 7:57 am
I am so upset over this , all of the editing tools you needed were in one place and were super easy to use!! I have had premium for years and do not believe that google will be able to handle the account as well as picnik has and I enjoyed having all of my edited photos in one location . Stupid decision, many people will be annoyed by this change, NOT FOR THE BETTER!!
Angela
January 23, 2012 at 11:17 am
This is the first article I've read where it states that ALL features of Picnik will be rolled into Google+. Even Picnik themselves say SOME of their features will be integrated into Google's Photo Editor. Which scares me because I normally work in the advanced mode rather than the basic effects they offer. Either the author of this article didn't do their homework or they know more than Picnik knows. I'm guessing they didn't do their homework.
Also, I side with those who don't enjoy being forced into something especially if I don't even know if want it. Seems like a very devious thing to do.
Picnik is something I use constantly for my photography business. Picnik makes basic editing so much easier than Photoshop and all the other Picnik-like sites don't offer the tools I need that Picnik has. I am extremely unhappy about having to give it up. It's really taking a toll on me and what it means to my business. I wish Google would just leave the site as it is, change the name if you have to, but leave it alone! Not a happy camper.
veronica
February 27, 2012 at 2:05 pm
Amen to that I am also really upset my daughter is handicapped and she love to use picnik its so easy for her.
Linda Knowles
January 23, 2012 at 12:30 pm
I purchased Picnik on 1-15-12 explain what will happen 6to my acct
Gail Robinson
January 24, 2012 at 8:03 pm
Photoshop Elements has a learning curve, but it's not going anywhere, because Photoshop is used by professionals. I'm glad I took the time to learn it.
Jean Silvester
January 27, 2012 at 7:34 am
So very very sorry it's closing down.At this moment in time I can't seem
to find any software as super or as easy to use.From Jean Silvester.
Ruthmarie
February 1, 2012 at 4:10 pm
I'm finding that I am going to be forced into using several platforms. None work as smoothly and seamlessly as Picnik. Also some of those premium fonts were part of my "signature" This is a really big problem.
Shelley Tholen
March 24, 2012 at 1:33 am
I am so upset that you are shutting down picnik!!! People like me use picnik all of the time. Some of us don’t want to be forced to learn and use photoshop CS6 or lightroom4. Why can’t you get rid of picasa instead? I don’t need another social media site. I want a program like picnik where you can edit photo’s in a short time. I wish we could stop this from happening! Where are we supposed to go to now?