Scott Hanselman

Microsoft's Paint Program Legacy - YAMPP

June 12, 2005 Comment on this post [7] Posted in Gaming
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I blogged over a year ago about Microsoft's Image Editor problem when Balmer said "I didn't know anything about this. So I called up some folks at Microsoft, and apparently we make a lot of different image editors."

Personally, I use Paint.NET because it reminds me of Paint Shop Pro before it got an inferiority complex. I also use ArtRage, because it's truly a Painting Program. I use Picassa2 for managing my photos.

(Remember when PSP didn't suck? Remember the glory that was Version 5? Then all the vectors and layers came and it suddenly took four clicks to what used to take one. Sigh. Anyway.)

But, here's my list of Microsoft Paint Programs that I can remember:

  • Paint Brush
  • Microsoft (Kodak) Image Editor
  • Microsoft Picture and Fax Viewer (the Previewer)
  • Microosft Photo Editor
  • Microsoft Office Picture Manager 2003
  • Microsoft Office Document Imaging
  • Microsoft Picture-It, Premium, Publishing
  • Microsoft Digital Imaging Pro and Suite 10 (and versions previous)
  • Mircosoft Photo Story 3 for Windows
  • Microsoft Photodraw (Thanks Wesner!)
  • Microsoft Composer

Did I miss any? Interestingly you can also buy most of these on TWO PAGES of Microsoft's own Marketplace.

Anyway, now, Microsoft has YAMPP (Yet Another Microsoft Paint Program) in the form of Microsoft Acrylic, now in Beta. I'll check it out and report back.

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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June 12, 2005 7:53
Add Microsoft PhotoDraw to the list.
June 12, 2005 7:55
You forgot these two nice programs...
Microsoft Composer (which shipped with Frontpage)
Microsoft Photodraw (which shipped as Microsoft's in Office 2000 as a peer with Office and Excel, but later dumped for Visio ).
June 12, 2005 19:30
I don't think PhotoStory counts as a paint program does it?
June 12, 2005 19:46
It looks good. I enjoyed using Expression, but this is the first release after they acquired Creature House.
June 12, 2005 21:58
PhotoStory, probably not, but it's image related...
June 15, 2005 9:16
There was also an animated gif creator. Was that Composer? Office/FrontPage '97 time frame IIRC.
February 07, 2006 17:20
I know this is an old post (but hey, blogs are temporary, comments are forever right?) but I would really like to see MS adopt Paint.Net as a replacement for the aging MSPaint. Even with Acrylic coming out with Vista, there is still Paint (at least in all the builds I've seen). With the Framework part of the default OS install now, I don't see why we can't have a good paint program OOTB.

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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.