PICTURE THIS (MS Picture It! 2000)

Member Name: thingywhatsit

Product:	MS Picture It! 2000
Date:	14/12/05 (569 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: An easy beginners program

Disadvantages: Not as good as Roxio but complementary

Picture It 2000 is a program produced by Microsoft, and when they produced it, they thought of almost everything. I say almost, because just around the corner was the competition and it was exceptionally good competition and offered more than Picture it did.

The Package comes at approx twenty six Pounds, and for your money, you get good value if you are unaccustomed to complicated programs. However, with the popularity of Roxio, and the thought that Roxio put into their product from the standpoint of user friendliness, and what the consumer wanted, rather than what Microsoft thought we should have, Roxio photographic package (Roxio Easy CD Creator 6) stands out head over heels above what Microsoft offer with this package.

I still use it. There are occasions when I want the odd feature on this program that Roxio do not offer, and these are fun ones. Explaining what the program is all about, you will be able to make the decision for yourself, although for me, Roxio is better than this package.

Installation is simple. Let's face it Microsoft know how to make the experience as simplistic as possible. They have had loads of practice. It works well with Windows 98 and XP equally.

Get Picture.

How much more simple do you want it ? Here you have a choice of where to get the picture from. This could be a card reader, camera, scanner or a file on your hard drive. The choice is yours.

Having the picture, what you can do with it is pretty simple and basic. You have editing options, although not half as professional as those on the Roxio package. You can change the tint of the photo, put it into a vignette by fading the edges, get rid of red eye, change the focus a little, although here, the sharpening tool has its limitations and does not give as good results as the Roxio program does, in that sharpened images are often not better images.

Adding text to an image is simple as well, and you can chose the colour of text which is handy for presentation work. Paint and coloured effects is quite clever, and here you can make your photographs look like drawings, in a very easy manner, although again, the Roxio package offers more.

One feature I like a lot on Picture It and this is one of the reasons that I run both programs side by side is Picture Putty. This is a very clever feature, and chosing the size of your tool, you can use this to make short hair long, simply by clicking on the hair itself in the photo and carefully dragging it. It's a great feature for fun things. You can make someone's nose twice the length, or blow up their cheeks, or just distort an image to make the person look funny, and I keep this program because of this feature which is lacking on the more serious Roxio package.

Cropping, stacking different images to make collages, turning photographs around all work well with Picture It, and I would say that as a beginners package, it is probably sufficient, although when you compare it with the Roxio package, it pales into almost insignificance, in that the only feature that sets it apart is the project part of the program where you can make cards, calendars, put babies pictures on the front of a magazine etc., whereas the Roxio program is a little more for serious users.

I honestly believe that both programs have their merits, and that users will either find that they like to have both programs, or will opt for the Roxio, perhaps like me, running Picture it in the background for occasional use.

Like with the Roxio program, there are enhancing features such as scratch removal although it is much harder on Picture It than Roxio to adequately remove blemishes, and here the Roxio program comes up trumps in that it even removes the traces of age !! Now that really is worth paying twenty five quid for.

The saving program is quite clever, as here you can save your pictures in a smaller format to be sent with email, or save as wallpaper for your computer and for the non technical person, it makes the process very simple, equally as simple as Roxio does.

The printing program is good as well and here you can print multiple pictures on one page, or have a larger choice of setups than Roxio, so in this respect, it is a worthwhile program to keep, as sometimes, my printing requirements are not filled by the Roxio package.

So what is my overall opinion of the product. I think that Microsoft tried and failed to get it right. There are a couple of features that are better than Roxio, though these are only a few features. The layout is old fashioned, perhaps one could argue tried and tested, although I believe that Microsoft need to work on their product, rather than expecting everyone to trust their name on it, because sometimes they get it wrong, and here, they could learn a lot from Roxio, who appear to have listened to what the consumer wants, and have neatly packaged their photographic program in such a way that photos can be burned to CD in a much easier manner.

For fun features, I would say that Picture It have more than Roxio, although for everyday use, Picture It fails miserably in its fight in the market for photographic programs. It is easy to use, though so is Roxio. It could be better as well and for the reasons stated above, I would say that this package suits a non technical person that doesn't require too much from a photographic package, whilst for those who do, I stick by my recommendation for Roxio, which, at the same price, offers so much more than just a photographic program.

Possibly a good present for a child who is just starting out with digital photographs, although not a contender for those who want more sophistication.

Updates are available from Microsoft, but in my experience of the program these really are limited and give me the impression that this is one of the most neglected of Microsoft's programs.

Computer requirements : Windows 98, onwards.
This is a very small package compared with Roxio, taking up 56 MB as opposed to the 404MB required by Roxio, so perhaps is a good option for those lacking in disc space.

Logical Conclusion:

If you like fun features, and have the space, use both Roxio and Picture It on your computer. Both are reliable and stable programs and give good results. Both are user friendly.

If you want a basic photographic package and do not have space on your computer for anything complex, use Picture It.

If you want serious photographic flexibility, without all the technical difficulty of more complex programs, go for Roxio. Each of the programs has their fors and againsts and I hope that my review has helped with the comparison in your purchase of either of the programs discussed.

Rachel

Summary: An okay program for those with lacking space on their hard drives.

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