I understand that Google has recently released Picasa for Linux. While they didn't write a native version (due to an overworked dev team) they did go through the hassle of fixing a number of Wine bugs to make things work smoothly. The whole thing is interesting from several different angles. First, its nice to see such a needed application come to Linux. I dare say that Picasa is the iPhoto of the Windows world and I am happy that I can use it on my Linux computers.

Another interesting note is that this is the first "major" non-web-based application Google has made available for a platform other than Windows and Mac (and no, the toolbar doesn't count). Perhaps this is a glimpse of things to come. I would love to see Google earth ported over to Linux and of course the newly acquired SketchUp 3D software. Heres to hoping that there are more good ports up Google's sleeves!

On a more technical note it is nice to see a vendor support the Wine library as a method of porting a Windows application to Linux. Sure, this approach doesn't work with all software but it is a way to get those nice GUI Windows applications we all love running on Linux. It also shows software makers that it is viable to write code once and have it run anywhere without a huge investment of developer time. I hope that this bold move on Google's part catches the eye of Adobe.