When Google bought Nik Software in 2012, I think a lot of knew it was the beginning of the end for the beloved software. I am still a bit ticked off at Google for basically killing it with no new versions and now giving it away for free. Since there is no hidpi version of the software, I can no longer use it on my Windows laptop, and there will never be an update to correct that issue. Rest well Nik Collection, I'm going to miss you.
Below is a great article from The New Yorker on the topic.
From The New Yorker
Today everything exists to end in a photograph,” Susan Sontag wrote in her seminal 1977 book “On Photography.” This was something I thought about when I recently read that Google was making its one-hundred-and-forty-nine-dollar photo-editing suite, the Google Nik Collection, free. This photo-editing software is as beloved among photographers as, say, Katz’s Deli is among those who dream of pastrami sandwiches.
Before Google bought it, in 2012, the collection cost five hundred dollars. It is made up of seven pieces of specialized software that, when used in combination with other photo-editing software, such as Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Lightroom, give photographers a level of control akin to that once found in the darkroom. They can mimic old film stock, add analog photo effects, or turn color shots into black-and-white photos. The suite can transform modestly good photos into magical ones. Collectively, Nik’s intellectual sophistication is that of a chess grand master. I don’t mind paying for the software, and neither do thousands of photographers and enthusiasts. So, like many, I wondered, why would Google make it free? Read the full article