# Nik and DXO



## johnbeardy (Oct 25, 2017)

An interesting development. See DxO acquires Nik Collection from Google and will continue to offer it for free... for now - DXO bought Nik and say a new Nik Collection 2018 Edition is planned for mid-next year.


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## LouieSherwin (Oct 25, 2017)

That's interesting news. I hope it turns out better the the iView to Expression Media fiasco. I still miss iView...:(

-louie


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## Johan Elzenga (Oct 25, 2017)

LouieSherwin said:


> That's interesting news. I hope it turns out better the the iView to Expression Media fiasco. I still miss iView...:(


That wasn't bought by DxO...


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## LouieSherwin (Oct 25, 2017)

JohanElzenga said:


> That wasn't bought by DxO...



Yes I understand but this seems to following a similar story arc. iView->Microsoft->Capture One. I never did figure out what MS really wanted out iView and Capture One was not able to ever really make a go of marketing the DAM parts.

Similar to Nik->Google->DXO. Google apparently just wanted Snapseed and now has jettisoned the rest. It will be interesting to see exactly how DxO will proceed. 

For all sorts of special effects I much preferred the Nik software over OnOne and I hope that DxO is able to bring them back to life.

-louie


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## Gnits (Oct 25, 2017)

I think it is positive, at least Nik may get another lease of life. Fingers crossed.


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## johnbeardy (Oct 25, 2017)

LouieSherwin said:


> I never did figure out what MS really wanted out iView



I was very close to iView at the time and subsequently to Microsoft. Microsoft won a bidding war - mainly against Phase One - and quickly moved the iView people from London to Redmond. They assisted Microsoft's rewrite of iView as Expression Media, but their main role was with Microsoft's competitor to Aperture and Lightroom, "SmartFlow". This never got released because Microsoft were late to the party and their interest in the photography space didn't last long. I did get to see SmartFlow in action and was very impressed - I still remember how you built collections by dragging thumbnails into a pile on what looked like a light table. Very visual, quick too. The main guy driving their photographic efforts was David Vaskevitch, Microsoft's CTO and a very keen photographer, and he is now a leading light behind Mylio.

So now you know!

John


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## Johan Elzenga (Oct 25, 2017)

Google mainly wanted the technology, and perhaps some of the people (although most left). For DxO it makes more sense to want to further develop the plugins, although they may aim to develop them only for their own DxO software and not for other software like Lightroom (at least not for free).


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## LouieSherwin (Oct 25, 2017)

johnbeardy said:


> So now you know!



Thanks for the bit of history. 

-louie


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## LouieSherwin (Oct 25, 2017)

johnbeardy said:


> and say a new Nik Collection 2018 Edition is planned for mid-next year.



This implies that at least for now these will be available as standalone applications. It could make sense for DxO to continue to do so as it would be a way to earn revenue from Lightroom dedicated users. Depending on the ongoing price I certainly consider paying for these as standalone tools, where as I would switch to DxO from Lightroom just to get them. 

TBD

Maybe they hired some of the Nik crew who all seemed to bail Google as soon as they could. I was very happy for the Nik folks as they seemed to make a bundle on on the sale to Google. 

-louie


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## Johan Elzenga (Oct 25, 2017)

LouieSherwin said:


> Maybe they hired some of the Nik crew who all seemed to bail Google as soon as they could. I was very happy for the Nik folks as they seemed to make a bundle on on the sale to Google.



One of the top Nik people (Josh Haftel) is now working at Adobe and is responsible for Lightroom CC (Mobile)...


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## Victoria Bampton (Oct 25, 2017)

That certainly sounds more promising than it being written off forevermore. And hey, even if the tech ends up in DXO, that still good for photographers. 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## rob211 (Oct 25, 2017)

If you like the Nik control point feature, try DxO's new PhotoLab (formerly known as Optics Pro). They are in there, along with some other improvements. And available now. Unfortunately it doesn't look like the DxO plugins are compatible with Lr Classic as of now.


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## rob211 (Nov 4, 2017)

A just issued upgrade makes both DxO Optics Pro 11 and PhotoLab 1.0 plugins compatible with Lr Classic. Works well.

Edit: changed CC to Classic. Oops.


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## Johan Elzenga (Nov 4, 2017)

rob211 said:


> A just issued upgrade makes both DxO Optics Pro 11 and PhotoLab 1.0 plugins compatible with Lr CC. Works well.



Lr CC? I suppose you mean Lr Classic.


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## clee01l (Nov 4, 2017)

rob211 said:


> A just issued upgrade makes both DxO Optics Pro 11 and PhotoLab 1.0 plugins compatible with Lr CC. Works well.


Lightroom CC or Lightroom Classic?


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## rob211 (Nov 4, 2017)

Aargh. Classic of course. I bet this won't be the last time I do that. Curses Adobe!


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## Colin Grant (Nov 5, 2017)

rob211 said:


> If you like the Nik control point feature, try DxO's new PhotoLab (formerly known as Optics Pro). They are in there, along with some other improvements. And available now. Unfortunately it doesn't look like the DxO plugins are compatible with Lr Classic as of now.



Just tried it. Awful. Horrendous interface, terrible controls and response when previewing. That is a rushed release if ever I saw one - or at least I hope it was.


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