Microsoft Transforms Everyday Photos Into the Extraordinary

July 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Microsoft today launched Microsoft Digital Image Suite 9, the first digital imaging software package on the market to combine all the tools consumers want and need to organize, archive, edit and share the soaring number of digital photos accumulating on their PCs.

Digital cameras captured roughly 25 billion photos worldwide in 2002. That number is expected to jump to 56 billion in 2005. A projected 28.1 million digital cameras will be sold worldwide in 2003, and many consumers will find themselves juggling thousands of images without an easy way to manage them. In response, Microsoft combined the power of two digital imaging software titles, Microsoft Digital Image Library 9 and Microsoft Digital Image Pro 9, into one comprehensive and flexible photo solution. The result is the new Microsoft Digital Image Suite 9, the only product available today that gives consumers everything they need in digital imaging software, including advanced organizational and photo-editing tools, new levels of creativity with professional-quality photo projects, and unparalleled ease of use.

"Beyond simply taking digital photos, customers are becoming more sophisticated in how they want to edit, store and share their images," said Michelle Richardson, product manager for home imaging at Microsoft. "They want advanced yet easy-to-use photo software that can do it all, and that's exactly what they're going to get with Digital Image Suite."

Digital Image Suite 9 incorporates the following new organizational and advanced photo-editing tools:

Organization With Digital Image Library 9

• New! Import Pictures Wizard. This feature automatically detects import devices and renames and deletes photos on acquisition. Users can access photos from digital cameras as well as on CD-ROM or removable media.
• New! Advanced organizational system. Users can locate and organize their photos with intuitive tools such as the 5 Star Rating System, Find Similar Photos and Keyword Painter.
• New! Virtual Views. Quickly find and sort images by View, Date and Keyword, and then subsort by image size, file size, year, month, keyword, event, file type, folder and rating.
• New! Photo Story Lite. Users can combine edited images, motion, text and even their own voice into a unique and personal photo story or video that can be burned onto CD-ROM and viewed in most consumer DVD players or sent via e-mail.
• New! Archive. Protect and preserve precious photos and hard drive space with Digital Image Library's new state-of-the-art archival technology. Users can customize automatic backup reminders, choose among archiving options, burn CDs of favorite photos, archive to multiple devices and find archived images easily.

Advanced Photo-Editing With Digital Image Pro 9

• New! Smart Erase. Cutting-edge technology helps automatically remove unwanted objects with a click of the mouse.
• New! Blending Brush. Users can smooth away photo blemishes by copying the texture of part of an image and pasting it elsewhere.
• New! Straighten Picture. Users can align crooked pictures by shifting their image to a desired angle. They simply select the horizon line, and then use Straighten Picture to rotate and crop the area to a perfect line.
• New! Multiple selection tools. Users can choose from multiple selection tools, such as Marquee, Freehand, Edge Finder and Magic Wand, to select a specific photo area for editing.
• New! Gaussian Blur. This feature provides a sophisticated way to blur pictures to achieve a special effect or reduce emphasis on selected photo areas.
• New! Unsharp Mask. Users can sharpen a picture that is slightly out of focus. The Unsharp Mask uses noise-reduction threshold, contrast and edge width to determine which pixels to sharpen and by what degree.
• New! Rule of Thirds. Users can enhance objects by applying visually pleasing proportions and get a well-balanced photo that is appealing to the eye.
• New! Save for a Mobile Device. Users can instantly resize digital photos to the correct display size for a mobile device. Photos can be resized to fit on most popular mobile phones, Pocket PC or Palm devices.

Unmatched Help and Startup Tools
Digital Image Suite 9 continues Microsoft's tradition of powerful yet easy-to-use digital imaging products by including an enhanced startup window, new instructional videos and an improved user interface, making photo capture and enhancement easier than ever.

New Levels of Creativity and More Ways to Share
Digital Image Suite 9 offers new levels of creativity, with more than 5,000 images, 3,000 designer project templates, 200 filters (50 of which are new in Digital Image Suite 9) and a variety of mats, frames and templates for creating professional photo projects such as scrapbooks, photo albums, calendars and postcards. Filters with effects such as Antique, Impressionism and Watercolor add instant style to photos. Users can find professionally designed photo project templates for a variety of occasions, seasons and needs, including kids' crafts and business, community and home projects.

In addition, with MSN Photos, users can seamlessly order photo reprints and gifts directly from within Digital Image Suite 9.

Availability
Microsoft Digital Image Suite 9 is available for an estimated retail price of $129 (U.S.). Microsoft offers $60 in rebates -- a $30 version upgrade and competitive upgrade mail-in rebate, as well as an additional $30 digital camera mail-in rebate (if consumers purchase any digital camera within 30 days of acquiring the application). In addition, the product ships with $80 worth of coupons for Fuji products, Avery paper samples and Alien Skin plug-ins. Digital Image Suite 9 also is available at academic pricing and for business licensing. (Certain offer restrictions apply to each offer.)

In addition to the high-end features and functionality offered by Digital Image Suite 9, Microsoft provides product options for all levels of digital photography users. Picture It! Photo Premium 9 offers a popular collection of midlevel photo-editing, drawing and painting options. Microsoft also is shipping Plus! Digital Media Edition, which includes a full version of Plus! Photo Story, Plus! Party Mode, Plus! Effects & Transitions for Windows Movie Maker 2, and Plus! Sync & Go for Pocket PC, all for $19.95 (U.S.).

Source: Microsoft Corp.
Web site: http://www.microsoft.com