I see that Google is offering its Nik Software Suite at no cost now.

Does anybody use this these plug-ins? Are any more useful than others? Are they destructive?

I use their Viveza 2 a lot since I like "Control Points" (Having used them in Nikon's defunct Capture NX-2 prior.) to tune color balance as well as some localized brightness or darkening.  I often use up to 12 different Control Points in tuning.

Their Silver Efex Pro 2 isn't bad either for making something into B&W.

Haven't had much call for any of the others so cannot comment there.

Bought the set maybe 2 years ago for $149.  Don't know what is up with the free one, but only refunds for those buying it in 2016 so I'm sort of miffed about that - or suspicious as to what may be added as part of the new free one (Data mining, ad sales to third parties, etc. ??  Sort of like Google Android's "free apps" that share maybe too much info off the cellphone and why the app makers need some of it.).

Now if Photoshop goes freeware I will really be suspicious.

Your friend https://www.youtube.com/user/NikSoftwareLessons

I bought the Nik package a couple of years ago. I mainly use Silver Effects Pro and love it.

I just got this email, (I get Tim Gray's emails). I liked NIK's sharpener, much more than I liked unsharp mask, in Photoshop, but I applied it differently, and the new version had some redundancies in my workflow -  I had a way to remove almost ALL of the artifacts inherent in aggressive retouching techniques.
-Don
Today's Question:
Do you think Google's announcement that the Nik Collection is now free means the end of the Nik Collection?
Tim's Quick Answer:
Yes. I suspect we will never see another update to the Nik Collection, as noted in the latest episode of Tim Grey TV (https://youtu.be/2Z0pYDysVDU).
More Detail:
When Google originally acquired Nik Software, there was speculation that Google was really only interested in the Snapseed app for mobile devices. Rumors swirled that staff from Nik Software had been let go, and everything I heard suggested there would not be any updates to the Nik Collection.

I was a bit surprised when shortly after the acquisition there was an update to Analog Efex Pro, but I suspect that was just a matter of delivering an update that had already been nearly complete before the acquisition.

In the announcement posted on Google+ (https://plus.google.com/+NikCollection/ … FGsG2Di7EK), part of the explanation indicates that, "As we continue to focus our long-term investments in building incredible photo editing tools for mobile, including Google Photos and Snapseed, we've decided to make the Nik Collection desktop suite available for free...." Perhaps that means that means the Nik Collection will be updated and still be offered for free, similar to other apps that are available. But I interpret this statement as an indication that this is the end of the line for the Nik Collection.

I've been a big fan of many of the tools in the Nik Collection, and continue to use several of those tools in my workflow. I would love to see future updates to make these tools even better than they already are, but I suspect that won't be the case.

I gave it a shot. I can't make it fit my workflow. I do Lightroom > photoshop > lightroom. I can see myself using it with a different type of photography, which doesn't require precision masking.