Jan 08 2008
Paint.NET: Less Than Photoshop, Better Than Paint
I’ve never been a fan of open source programs until recently because I grew up in the world of proprietary Windows-based applications. Curious and incredulous, I surfed the Web to take a sneak peak of the beauty of these “free-to-use” programs, though I knew it isn’t new, I was surprised how robust they are.
The open source program that awed me is called Paint.NET, a raster graphics editing program for Windows, developed under .NET Framework using C# and C++ languages. When I saw the program running on my screen for the first time, I doubted if the program is really free – and it really is.
Paint.NET program has a familiar user interface. The toolbox looks similar to that of Photoshop. The whole program looks actually like a downsized Adobe Photoshop version. It supports layers as well, transparency, blending, plug-in and has dozens of in-built image effects to choose from. The program is amazingly fast and lightweight. Paint.NET can be downloaded here for only 1.6 MB disk space.
I love Paint.NET because of the following things:
- Better than Paint – if you are still using Microsoft Paint until now, you’re still in the cave. Paint.NET provides many image and photo editing functionalities that Microsoft would never put on their paint.
- Frequent Updates – I love the creators of this program. They keep on upgrading this free application and adding new features. Probably better than being stuck in the simplicity of Microsoft Paint. lol
- Less than Photoshop, But Free – Professionally, I use Photoshop for my graphics editing needs. However, I got the benefits because I paid for them. With Paint.NET, you’ll get dozens of Photoshop effects and filters without stripping out your wallet.
You will appreciate for yourself when you try running this great program. Paint.NET opened my eyes that I would never ever underestimate the power of open source applications because they could contend, in a way, far better than the ones created by commercial companies.
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January 8th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Ehm… did you have any luck trying GIMP ?
January 8th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
I haven’t checked that out. Thanks for the idea.
July 31st, 2008 at 10:58 pm
[...] days ago, I wrote a post about Paint.NET, the amazing opensource graphics editing program meant for Windows operating system. After I wrote [...]