Google NIK Collection

    I seek the advice of members who are using the Google NIK Collection. I have been away from editing our family photos for a couple of years and am now starting up again. My question whether the NIK software and support is better or worse under Google ownership before spending my limited resources on the current package? The website seems to be not as informative or user friendly as it was under NIK.  I have the NIK Sharpener Pro and Silver Effects Pro software but, there seems to be no way to identify updates nor download the specific updates for my NIK applications. The only way to update is to download the trial package bundle and I fear this will contaminate my present NIK software. Communication seems to be only with Google and by email. It is quite confusing!
    Is it worthwhile to download the trial package as I want to try out the other NIK applications or is the former NIK quality no longer there?
    I would appreciate your thoughts
    Sternhagen

Contact Google - they will send you a link where you can download the latest NIK Software. At least, that's what they did with me. I only owned Viveza, but Google gave me the whole NIK package on the strength of that

I wondered about updates and Google support also. Looking into it...the updates are automatic and behind the scenes (you don't know if an update has been placed in your computer). There may be #s of software available to check updates or there may be no updates. Google says to download newest version if you are worried about updates.

Thank you for your comments. I have as suggested taken a chance on downloading the Google NIK bundle by contacting its customer service. The reply was prompt and Google NIK provided a link to download the bundle at no charge as I was a previous customer of NIK. The installation was fast and created no problems to my existing Sharpener Pro and and Silver Efex Pro apps. I have explored the new apps provided in the bundle and they appear to function with no issues so far. The issue of managing updates remains obscure but is supposedly automatic. No updates have appeared so far but time will perhaps reveal more about how the update process works. Time will also reveal how the Google NIK software will evolve. At this point the customer service function seems responsive—a good sign.
  Again, thank you for your comments.
     Regards
     Sternhagen