Really hoping they'll open source the Picasa application or something, it was really the best in the business - I still recommend it to people regularly. Managing digital photos any other way I've seen is just too complicated for average users.

Other than that I can only recommend they go to Lightroom or one of several open source applications which are at varying stages of completion and usability (I haven't played with any recently so if anyone knows a particularly polished one that runs on Windows let me know). All of the alternatives are more difficult to use than Picasa. This really sucks.

what open source options have you tried? I tried Lightroom, but it repeatedly barged and corrupted it's library while importing on my rather old MacBook.

I never was a fan of Picasa because it always felt and looked janky on a Mac. (Specifically, no drag-n-drop between apps.) I only started using it after iPhoto collapsed under its own weight. I thought about switching back to Apple Photos, but all that white space and mobile design feels weird on a screen with a 2 digit diagonal size. Google Photos is a nonstarter because I'm not comfortable all my photos to Googke and then paying to access them.

Why is photo management such a hard thing?

Try DigiKam - it's open source and its photo management features work very well.

> Does anyone have a web or desktop alternative that supports tagging on individual and multiple photos?

DigiKam!

Fantastic feature set, but on Windows importing from USB cameras doesn't seem to work and it also isn't stable, so a deal breaker. As Picasa hasn't had any love in years, it's future demise was obvious, and my hope is that this creates a whole lot more attention for DigiKam on Windows as it seems to work well on Linux.

Thanks for the recommendation. Works well on both Windows and Linux. Problem solved!

I mean it's going away insofar as they are no longer supporting it. However they haven't put out features in years. If it works for you, keep using it. It's what I do.

Unless it's sync functionality stops working with Google Photos, I guess, which would be undesireable...

I use Picasa on the desktop to organize my photos as well. While they are not going to develop it any more, it should still work if you have it installed right?

You are correct from what I read and understand. My concern is that one day something will stop working with desktop picasa and the Google Photos backend.

I'd like to find something to move to so when the inevitable happens I am don't have to worry.

There's a desktop uploader that you might be able to point at the picasa folder, or just throw pics at it and then organize on the web.

Have you tried Adobe Lightroom? It's not free (you can get it and Photoshop for $10 a month), but it's the best photo organizer I've used.

Great for advanced people who use Windows or OS X and want to pay money.

There's also a few good open source options in this direction for people on Linux.

The problem is Picasa was so easy I could give it to an average user and have them pick it up quickly and enjoy their photos. I can't think of anything nearly as dead simple.

How do I scroll through my entire photo collection in Lightroom with it keeping my folder tree in sync as I scroll and dividers by folder so I distinguish between groups of photos?

As far I can tell in Lightroom my old options are (1) show all photos from all folders in one giant grid so I can't tell where one folder starts and another ends nor can I tell which set of photos I'm currently looking at. Or (2) only view one folder at a time

I also would like to know if others have suggestions. I've tired Apple Photo/iPhoto/Aperture and Capture One. I find they have severe performance or usability issues.

I like Smugmug. No download for desktop, but their web interface fits my needs well.

http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/1213254

It may be overkill for what you are doing but if you are looking for a desktop application, Lightroom supports tagging multiple images at a time.

shotwell. comes default with Debian desktop install.

and if you're still not using Debian as your default os, get ready to ask for X-alternative all your life.