Nik photography plugin collection now totally free

Yep, you read that right. Plus those who paid a lot of money for it before, REFUNDS!
www.theverge.com/2016/3/25/11303094/nik-...oogle-photo-plug-ins

Yes ... free tools are nice ... but this giveaway also ushers in the EOL for NIK plugins ... as in, it is very unlikely to receive ANY further updates or development. If OS X 10.12 breaks them ... they are done.

Also, refunds are only going to be issued to those users who purchased the plugins since Jan. 1, 2016.

OS X is free now, but it gets updates. A product going free doesn't mean EOL.

Hey ... I'm just going by what I have read. Same as you.

From Scott Kelby (who built a very large cottage industry as a 'Photoshop Insider' :

Q. Does this mean that future updates for this collection have ceased?

A. Based on what I’ve read, I absolutely think that is the case, but I haven’t confirmed it with anyone inside Google yet.

From this blog:

scottkelby.com/google-awesomely-makes-ni...ree-everybodys-pisd/

The comparison to OS X is a bit of a reach considering that the Nik plugins haven't had an update since July 2015 or that the suite hasn't seen much more than bug fixes since Google bought them.

I could be wrong, but I seriously doubt Google will put forth any more effort for a free plugin suite that only supports 2 Adobe products and one deprecated Apple product, than they did for a paid version ... considering they aren't trying to sell you any top end hardware ... but conversely, they want to use you and your online presence as a source of income.

Their TOU always includes:

"When you upload, submit, store, send or receive content to or through our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content. The rights you grant in this license are for the limited purpose of operating, promoting, and improving our Services, and to develop new ones. This license continues even if you stop using our Services."

Ya, I think Butch is most likely right. Lots of chatter on Photo sites saying the same thing.
Free, works till it doesn't. You can keep it working by keeping compatible OS and Apps on bootable drives to use when/if it dies.
The other thing I think goes into this, is that Google seems to be stopping lots of software and services right now. (Picasa and lots of others) Consolidation may be due to "Alphabet" the new parent company of Google. Major reorganizing within corporate structure and each division will need $$$ accountability. Trading prices on stock??
Is maintaining and development worth the cost of just EOL and free? How many seats does it really have and how many are sold per year. Still nice that they are making it available for free. Be even more interesting if they Open Sourced the source code.

So I say download and enjoy while you can.
Still using several EOL Apple apps too.

Hope this helps, Greg