iPhoto Equivalent for Windows

For a few months now Mac’s and their owners have had the privilege of using iPhoto 09. The next version of Microsoft’s Windows Live Photo Gallery, which is expected to have more features than iPhoto 09, is not due out for another few months; which leaves us Windows users feelling left out.

iPhoto 09

iPhoto 09 has many innovative features like:

• Faces, will automatically tag faces using facial recognition, so you don't have to search through your 1000’s of photos
• Places, allows you to tag where a photo was taken
• Online Sharing, allows you to share your photos online (Windows Live Photo Gallery has this feature)
• Enhanced Photo Editing

Picasa 3

I have combed the internet trying to find an iPhoto 09 equvilent (or close) for free and for Windows.

Picasa 3

Picasa 3 is a free equivalent to iPhoto. I am not too much of a fan of Picasa 3 (I'm a Photoshop guy) but it should suit the average user. It has all of the iPhoto features except facial recognition. Some users may find the interface somewhat difficult to use. You can download Picasa 3 at http://picasa.google.com.

Windows Live Photo Galley / Windows Photo Gallery

Yes, I know that I said that Windows Live Photo Gallery is worse than iPhoto but it comes close.

Windows Live Photo Gallery

I have yet to have any issues with Windows Live Photo Gallery, and yes it is less advanced than Picasa, but I do prefer it. Windows Live Photo Gallery has a much cleaner interface than Picasa, and has basic photo editing features. Windows Live Photo Gallery will satisfy the cravings of most users. Unfortunately you need a Windows Live ID and you need to run Windows. A few months from now Windows Live Photo Gallery will have all the features of iPhoto and Picasa.

Windows Photo Gallery

If your a user of Windows Vista you have Windows Photo Gallery. Windows Photo Gallery is the worse of any of the products I mentioned above. I reccomend if you use Windows Photo Gallery to upgrade to Windows Live Photo Gallery. You cannot download Windows Photo Gallery, only Windows Live Photo Gallery.

Windows Photo Gallery

So there you have it, three iPhoto equivalents for Windows.

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Status of Mac vs. PC battle: PC is Winning

Apple may have one of the most interesting and longest running ad campaigns in history, but it seems like Microsoft’s young Laptop Hunters ads are winning according to Brand Index.

The Laptop Hunter ads show regular people trying to find the perfect laptop within a certain price point and naturally the Laptop they choose is a PC. 

Based on daily interviews of 5,000 people, BrandIndex found the age group gave Apple its highest rating in late winter, when it notched a value score of 70 on a scale of -100 to 100 (a score of zero means that people are giving equal amounts of positive and negative feedback about a brand). But its score began to fall shortly after and, despite brief rallies, hovers around 12.4 today.

"It would be very unusual for Microsoft's score to be increasing this much and Apple's to be decreasing without some sort of event driving that, like a major campaign that's particularly successful," said Mr. Marzilli.

Microsoft gave credit the strong PC market, despite the recession, to the great success of the ad campaign. Microsoft said there was a 10% preference of Windows due to the ad campaign.

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Windows 7 Build 7127 Screenshots

If you’re were looking for something new in post RC builds of Windows 7 you’re going to be disappointed. As far as I can see there are no changes, but there might be some core changes. Here are the screenshots:

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Windows Live Photo Gallery Will Soon Have Facial Recognition

Imagine, plugging in your digital camera, tagging someone’s face once and then having Windows Live Photo Gallery find the rest of the photos with that face. For a few weeks now people who have iPhoto have had this luxury.

Very soon, Windows users will be able to have this luxury in the next version of Windows Live Photo Gallery. The software will automatically recognise different faces and tag them for you.

The first beta is expected sometime in September.

This news comes from a Chinese website (translation). Unfortunately these tags will be available only in Photo Gallery so you will not be able to view them in the Windows Explorer.

I’m very interested in seeing how this works. Ironically I just spent a hour tagging all of my photos. This feature would have saved me, and many other people lots of time.

Some of the first things that I’ll be trying when the Beta comes out is whether it can recognize your face when it’s been obscured or cut off in a photo. For example, what if the person isn’t looking directly at the camera… would it still be able to recognize the person when only part of their face is visible? I’m a bit sceptical about its accuracy in situations like those, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed!

Tripp Zao

May 6

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