New Advanced Photo-Editing Software Boasts Add Flash, Backlighting, Levels Adjustment And Adobe Photoshop Plug-in Filter Support

REDMOND, Wash. -- Aug. 20, 2002 -- Microsoft® Picture It!® Digital Image Pro version 7.0 hit store shelves today, making it easier than ever for digital camera owners, including the 9.5 million new owners,¹ to create professional-quality photos. The newest edition to the Picture It! family, Picture It! Digital Image Pro is the only product to offer the unique combination of advanced photo-editing tools, professional-quality photo projects and simplicity.

Professional-Quality Photos and Photo Projects Made Simple

Picture It! Digital Image Pro provides photo hobbyists with easy access to a host of new advanced control features and expanded photo projects. These features enable users to add flash to a photo; reduce backlighting; adjust levels to control shadows, midtones and highlights; and open, save and automatically adjust multiple pictures in the improved Mini Lab. With Adobe Photoshop plug-in filter support, users can further enhance their photos. In addition, a new file browser, enhanced startup window, product tour and improved user interface make it even easier for users to capture and enhance their photos.

Picture It! Digital Image Pro also offers 3,000 photo projects, 150 filters, 5,000 images, and a variety of mats, frames and templates for creating professional photo projects, such as scrapbooks, photo albums, calendars and postcards. Filters with variations such as Antique, Impressionism and Watercolor add instant style to photos. New Adobe Photoshop plug-in filter support offers endless opportunity to turn ordinary photos into works of art. Users can find professionally designed content for a variety of needs, including kids' projects and business, community and home projects. Photo cards and projects are available for all occasions and seasons.

Picture It! Digital Image Pro is integrated with MSN® Photos,² to enable consumers to take advantage of the mobility of the Internet to store, share, collaborate and fully maximize their photo-editing and digital-imaging experience. In addition, with MSN Photos, users can seamlessly order photo reprints and gifts directly from within Digital Image Pro.

"Last year, digital cameras accounted for more than 21 percent of the worldwide camera market, and as that number continues to grow,³ and as digital camera users continue to become more savvy and sophisticated, they are looking for products like Digital Image Pro," said Michelle Richardson, product manager for home imaging at Microsoft Corp. "Microsoft developed Picture It! Digital Image Pro to meet the evolving needs of the photo hobbyists who have come to rely on our digital-imaging products. Now for the first time, they can more easily create professional-quality photos and photo projects."

Availability

Microsoft Picture It! Digital Image Pro version 7.0 is available for an estimated retail price of $109 (U.S.). Microsoft offers a $30 rebate for users upgrading from a previous version of Picture It! or a competitive product, and an additional $10 rebate if consumers purchase any digital camera the same day they purchase the software. In addition, the product ships with $85 worth of coupons for Fuji products, Avery paper samples and Alien Skin plug-ins.

In addition to the high-end features and functionality offered by Picture It! Digital Image Pro, Microsoft provides product options for all levels of digital photography users. The latest version of Picture It! Photo provides an entry-level software package, and the seventh packaged version of Picture It! Photo Premium offers users a popular collection of midlevel photo-editing and drawing and painting options. Microsoft also is shipping the fifth-anniversary edition of Microsoft Picture It! Publishing Platinum 2002, which includes greeting cards from commercial artists, photo-editing features and thousands of ways to do print and Web projects.

About Microsoft Home Retail Division

Microsoft Home Retail Division is a leading publisher of home software for the PC. Celebrating Microsoft Corp.'s 20 years of delivering products that make life work better, Microsoft Home Retail Division brings consumers Microsoft Encarta® Reference Library 2003, from the industry's best-selling⁴ encyclopedia brand; Microsoft Picture It! Digital Image Pro version 7.0, which combines advanced photo-editing features with unparalleled ease of use; easy personal finance management with Microsoft Money; and the latest version of the best-selling⁵ integrated home productivity software, Microsoft Works Suite 2003, which offers six of the latest essential home software titles in one package for tremendous value. Used with the MSN network of Internet services, these products have a unique depth and mobility that allow users to take their PC experience even further.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software -- any time, any place and on any device.


¹ Source: InfoTrends. 9.5 million low-end (under $1,000) digital cameras will be shipped in North America in 2002.

² Internet connection required

³ Source: InfoTrends. Digital camera sales constituted 21 percent of the worldwide camera market in 2001 and are expected to represent 63 percent by 2006.

⁴ Source: NPDTechworldSM, March 1993--May 2002. Based on total U.S. retail sales.

⁵ Source: NPDTechworld, October 1998--May 2002. Based on total U.S. retail sales.

Microsoft, Picture It!, MSN and Encarta are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.