iLife 101: Switch from Picasa to iPhoto
If you've ever thought about giving up Google for your photo management, David Alison has good tips on moving from Picasa to iPhoto. For the unfamiliar, Picasa is the big G's photo-management software, originally available only on Windows and now made for Mac (since the beginning of 2009). When my sister the Windows user came to me for an equivalent to iPhoto, I set her up with Picasa and she's been happy since. Combined with Google's free Picasa Web Albums option, the app makes it easy to get your photos online for far-flung family and friends.
When installed on a Mac, Picasa will let you store images wherever you like, and it takes a "hands-off" approach to images in your iPhoto library, as the app's authors know some users will want to run both. Instead, if you ask it to edit a photo that's in your iPhoto library, it will ask to make a copy first.
Windows users who are switching to the Mac and looking to jump from Picasa to iPhoto ought to check out David's article. He lists the basic differences here, and explains how to switch here. His instructions are simple and readable and should have you up and running in short order. Enjoy iPhoto!
