Report: Google killing off Picasa, Blogger brands in favor of Google+
Google is getting very serious about Google+ - perhaps more so about this than any of its other collaborative projects as of late.
In an effort to streamline and strengthen the new Google+ brand, the Mountain View, Calif-based tech giant is dropping its Picasa and Blogger brand names.
That doesn't mean that Google is erasing its photo sharing and web blogging tools from the Web. Instead, these features will just be renamed "Google Photos" and "Google Blogs" respectively. Short and simple.
Mashableis reporting that the moniker shift will occur within "in a month to a month and a half" to align with the public launch of Google + and possibly even as soon as July 31, which is the same day that Google Profiles will be removed from existence.
Mashable also speculates that Google will rename some of its other portals to align with Google+, with the exception of YouTube.
This name change also frames Google+ as more of a full-featured social networking site with multiple facets. It also positions Google+ as a more solid competitor for Facebook.
It also makes more sense in the scheme of things as Google is really all about simplicity these days. Just look at some of its other products, like Google Wallet, Google Voice and any of its most basic offerings such as Calendar and Docs. The Google+ Info blog also points out that many average computer users might not even know what Picasa means, so Google Photos just fits better.
However, as for the Picasa software, it remains to be seen whether or not that will still hold the same name.
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