Tech giant Google has revealed in a recent announcement that its latest Nik Collection of photo plugins and apps has been made completely free, with effect from March 24, 2015.

The announcement implies that the $150-priced full range of Nik Collection of plug-ins for desktop photo editing clients -- including Photoshop -- can now be downloaded for free by anyone forevermore.

The latest Nik Collection desktop suite which Google has now made free for all to download includes tools like Analog Efex Pro, Color Efex Pro, Silver Efex Pro, Viveza, HDR Efex Pro, Sharpener Pro and Dfine.

With the latest Nik Collection of photo plugins and apps having been made totally free by Google, the company has also said that it will give a full refund to consumers who purchased the Nik Collection in 2016. In its announcement of the refund of $150 to the buyers of the latest Nik Collection desktop suite this year, Google said that the purchase amount will automatically be refunded to the eligible customers in the next few days.

Meanwhile, asserting that the Nik Collection desktop suite has now been made available for free "so that now anyone can use it," Google said the move underscores the company's continued focus on its "long-term investments in building incredible photo editing tools for mobile, including Google Photos and Snapseed."