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“OMGosh, I feel like someone just stole my dog. Dude, so heartbroken! I use Picnik all the time!”
– Blogger, Lisa Douglas of Crazy Adventures in Parenting
Imagine you are an electrician, standing on the top of your ladder, and you reach down into your tool belt for your favorite tool. As you slip your fingers around the well worn, familiar handle, you hear someone call out, “Oh, by the way buddy, did you hear you only have April to use that (insert some really important tool)? Yeah — those are being cut. Gone man. You are gonna have to use something else…”
Well, you might just fall off your ladder, or jump down to go mess with the person who is messing with your work!
BUT, if you are a blogger, and your favorite tool – Picnik – has just been closed by the almighty Google, well you will be out of luck.
Yes, the shocking news is flying around Facebook that Google is shutting down the popular free photo editing site, Picnik, which it acquired in March of 2010.
Picnik users, traumatized that one of their favorite and critical tools was just being axed from the Internet, quickly started to complain on the Picnik blog:
“This is horrible news, for a myriad of reasons. What a bad business decision. And what a slap in the face to your loyal fans.” — Amy B. from Freaky Perfect
“I’ve shifted from shocked and disappointed to sad to now just flat-out disgusted. There’s a reason I’m never on Google+, and that won’t be changing.” — Heather from Heather Yarnell Photography
“I’m going to ravage your site for what it’s worth. And just think, I was going to sign up for a premium membership in a month. I’m so disappointed in you, Picnik. “Bigger things”? Yeah, good luck with all that. Guess we weren’t big enough for you.” — Cassandra from Design by Cassandra
What I found most frustrating about the “break up post” to their users that Picnik published on their blog was their sing song “life is great even though we screwed over our customers” attitude:
CONTINUE READING at BABBLE’S MOMCRUNCH…
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Written by Janice Croze, co-founder of 5 Minutes for Mom.
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Anthony Kalowski says
Ribbet! have just announced that they are opening a photo editor that is almost identical to Picnik (built on the same platform). They are giving away a chance to win 1 of 100 free Ribbet Premium memberships if you request an invite on their site:
http://www.ribbet.com
Jenn says
Hi Janice,
My name is Jenn, I’m part of a team of former-Picnikers. We see that you’ve been an avid user of Picnik and love to hear about your passion for great photos! We know you’re probably looking for an alternative to your old favorite so I wanted to let you know about http://www.PicMonkey.com — a new photo editing site built by a couple of the folks who brought you Picnik! It’ll be familiar, fun, and totally user-friendly. Sign up on our site and we’ll keep you updated on a launch date. Also, feel free to send me your feedback, feature requests, and, of course, any questions you have!
Paul Salmon says
I wonder why Google is closing such a popular photo editing service? Especially after only two years after acquiring the service.
It probably bought the service to use the technology on another project that they will be launching soon.
Jenn says
I’m heart-broken. I love Picnik and have a Premium membership….why couldn’t they just make it a service you pay for. I’m sure everyone would!!
Steve says
Insane move by Google. Picnik is by far the best web-based photo editor, easy to use and incredibly useful. Google’s attempt to force people to use Google+ will fail. They should keep Picnik live and just have premium service, everyone will pay for it. Terribly unpopular decision by Google.
Lolli says
Wow! That is a shock!