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On a previous post, I had asked about multiple installations of Picasa. The answers tended to be more trouble than they were worth, so I'm on to option 2:

Is there a good alternative to Picasa I could use on my computer that would handle just my work photos? I would continue to use Picasa for personal photos by setting it to only check certain personal folders.

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Honestly none of the suggestions (and ensuing arguments) really turned me on. I really love the ability to put stars on my photos in Picasa and to add tags in the Google way. Picasa is just too smooth a program for my purposes (and again, my purposes are not extreme photo editing, just simple managing). – NoCatharsis Feb 23 '10 at 3:09
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2 Answers

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How about Windows Live Photo Gallery:

With Photo Gallery, it's a snap to get your photos and videos from your camera to your PC. Find your favorite photos and share them with friends and family. Make your great photos look even better, and create impressive panoramic photos too.

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You sound like a spokesperson for Microsoft! But I appreciate the answer and will give it a try. Thank you. – NoCatharsis Feb 15 '10 at 18:53
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Just took the blurb off the page to give you some background information before leaving this page :) Let me know how it goes! – John T Feb 15 '10 at 18:55
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Have a look at what IrfanView has to offer:

  • Many supported file formats
  • Multi language support
  • Thumbnail/preview option
  • Paint option - to draw lines, circles, arrows, straighten image etc.
  • Toolbar skins option
  • Slideshow (save slideshow as EXE/SCR or burn it to CD)
  • Show EXIF/IPTC/Comment text in Slideshow/Fullscreen etc.
  • Support for Adobe Photoshop Filters
  • Fast directory view (moving through directory)
  • Batch conversion (with image processing)
  • Multipage TIF editing
  • File search
  • Email option
  • Multimedia player
  • Print option
  • Support for embedded color profiles in JPG/TIF
  • Change color depth
  • Scan (batch scan) support
  • Cut/crop
  • IPTC editing
  • Effects (Sharpen, Blur, Adobe 8BF, Filter Factory, Filters Unlimited, etc.)
  • Capturing
  • Extract icons from EXE/DLL/ICLs
  • Lossless JPG rotation
  • Unicode support
  • Many hotkeys
  • Many command line options
  • Many PlugIns
  • Only one EXE-File, no DLLs, no Shareware messages like "I Agree" or "Evaluation expired"
  • No registry changes without user action/permission!
  • and much much more

alt text

or XnView:

  • Import about 400 graphic file formats
  • Export about 50 graphic file formats
  • Multipage TIFF, Animated GIF, Animated ICO support
  • Image IPTC, EXIF metadata support
  • EXIF auto rotation support
  • IPTC editing
  • Resize, rotate, crop support
  • Lossless rotate & crop (jpeg) support
  • Adjust brightness, contrast...
  • Auto levels, contrast
  • Modify number of colors
  • Apply filters (blur, average, emboss, ...)
  • Apply effects (lens, wave, ...)
  • Fullscreen mode
  • Slide show with effects
  • Batch convert, batch rename
  • Create WEB page easily
  • Screen capture
  • Create contact Sheet
  • Create or edit Multi-page file (TIFF, DCX, LDF)
  • TWAIN & WIA support (Windows only)
  • Print support (Windows only)
  • Drag & Drop support (Windows only)
  • Compare image side by side
  • Filmstrip layout
  • 44 languages support (Windows only)
  • And many many other things...
  • No Adware, No Spyware

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Both are free, portable versions are available as well. Neither program is limited to one installation or one running session only.

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If the OP is a fan of Picasa, he's probably looking for alternatives with similar qualities. -1 from me. – ceejayoz Feb 15 '10 at 18:48
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@ceejayoz - ah yes, and those programs don't have similar qualities??? LOL ... both beat Picasa hands down and you don't have to worry about privacy breaches Google products are notorious for. – Molly7244 Feb 15 '10 at 18:50
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I like the polish of Picasa, but if it's just features you're after these two will certainly do. – Ivo Flipse♦ Feb 15 '10 at 19:03
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@Molly Having a third of the interface taken up by a Windows directory tree really doesn't scream "simplicity" to me. None of that looks compelling to me in comparison with something like iPhoto, Picasa, etc. – ceejayoz Feb 15 '10 at 19:25
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@Molly Again, that's not simplicity, nor ease of use IMO. Both look like they suffer from the classic "designed by a programmer" issue that hampers usability for normal folks. You may like both tools, but if someone's using Picasa and enjoys its "ease of use and simplicity", I don't believe the two apps you posted fit the bill. – ceejayoz Feb 15 '10 at 21:25
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