Photo Gallery Part 1

A few weeks ago, Google announced that they are getting rid of the “G Suite legacy free edition.” I first heard about it on a Hacker News thread, which linked to a 9TO5Google article. My family domain uses a legacy account, and the per person cost for Google Workspace is higher than I would like to pay for a family convenience. I am considering alternatives, and one service that I need to replace is Google Photos. I plan on trying out various photo gallery software and blogging about my experience, similar to when I tried out various RSS clients.

I have been using the family domain with G Suite for about twelve years. I find many design and technical aspects of Google products frustrating, but sticking with G Suite for twelve years is very telling: the service has been very convenient. This convenience has even trumped my dislike/distrust of Google, and I am thankful for the twelve years of free service.

Over the past few weeks, I have been doing some preliminary research as well as discussing options with friends. Sharing photos and videos with family around the world is pretty common among expats, especially those with children. There are many options, and discussions with friends has helped me decide which software to consider.

I plan on first trying out various photo gallery software myself, locally. I will then present the best options to my wife, who is the primary user. If we find one that we like, I will put it into production and test it with family in real-world conditions. We need to decide what to do by July 1st.