Microsoft Celebrates a Decade of Exposing Consumers to the Joys of Digital Photography

Microsoft Digital Image Suite Anniversary Edition is the picture-perfect solution for organizing, enhancing and sharing digital memories.

REDMOND, Wash. — Sept. 19, 2006 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the launch of Microsoft® Digital Image Suite Anniversary Edition, which consists of Digital Image Suite 20061 along with a free value pack loaded with $198 worth of offers. 2 This comprehensive offering reflects 10 years of leadership in developing intuitive tools to help everyone from the novice picture-taker to the sophisticated photographer learn and grow in the art of digital photography.

Whether snapping shots on the go with a camera phone or experimenting with a new single-lens reflex camera, today’s shutterbugs have made digital photography more popular than ever. In fact, IDC predicts that the number of digital images captured, shared and received will continue to grow at a rate of 24 percent per year through 2009.3 Microsoft Digital Image Suite Anniversary Edition provides a range of tools to help photographers at every level preserve, organize and perfect these images.

Imagine the Fun

To celebrate a decade of creating digital imaging products, Digital Image Suite Anniversary Edition includes a free value pack with $198 worth of offers to help consumers get even more out of their photographic memories:2
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Free4 4x6 prints from Snapfish for new members
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Free4 Photo Notepad for new Snapfish members
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Free sample pack of Post-it Picture Paper and discounts off the next purchase of paper
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Free one-year subscription to Popular Photography magazine
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Free one-year subscription to Good Housekeeping magazine
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$20, $30 or $50 off digital frames from Digital Spectrum

The Digital Shoebox

What good is a digital photo if you can’t find it on your computer? Digital Image Suite makes it easy to view and organize images with a variety of features perfect for any style. Assign Labels such as customizable keywords and ratings for easy categorization, or create virtual to-do lists with Flags for common photo tasks. The Digital Image Library provides Video Support, allowing consumers to organize, sort and view all their multimedia elements in one place. A variety of simple archiving options provides necessary backup to help protect digital memories for years to come.

Just the Editing Basics, Please

Anyone looking to quickly enhance their digital photos will enjoy the easy-to-use editing features in Digital Image Suite. Consumers can quickly resolve common photo problems with just one click using a variety of automatic fixes. For shutterbugs on the move, a Camera Phone Auto Fix improves images taken on mobile phone cameras by helping reduce noise, improve color and correct exposure problems. And when those unexpected objects appear in otherwise perfect shots, Smart Erase makes it easy to remove distractions. Simply trace around the unwanted object and click the mouse. The tool intelligently fills in the selected area with the colors and textures of the surroundings.

Time to Get Crafty

Add flair and style to any image with more than 200 Filters in variations such as Antique, Impressionism, Fresco, Cement and Stained Glass. Scrapbookers will love creating one-of-a-kind photo projects with the high-quality Templates for cards, calendars, collages and more. Consumers can also easily put together a creative slide show for family and friends with Photo Story 3.1.6 Stories can be personalized with voice narration, customizable pans and zooms, and music. Once the story is complete it can be sent in e-mail or burned to CD as a high-resolution video compact disc file, perfect for playing back on a TV.

Going Further With Photos

Photographers seeking more advanced features will appreciate the powerful tools in Digital Image Suite. Black & White Effects unleash the artist within, making it a snap to transform color photos into stunning, contrast-rich, black-and-white images. The Color & Saturation toolset provides exceptional control over color correction, while the Exposure & Lighting toolset contains all exposure and lighting correction tools in a single location. A range of advanced selection tools allows for more freedom to fine-tune specific portions of photos.

Availability

Microsoft Digital Image Suite Anniversary Edition is available for an estimated retail price of $79.95 (U.S.).5 Digital Image Suite Anniversary Edition comes with up to $40 (U.S.) in available rebates — a $30 mail-in rebate open to all consumers who purchase Digital Image Suite Anniversary Edition, and an additional $10 digital camera mail-in rebate for consumers who purchase any digital camera within 30 days of purchasing the software (rebate offers available at select retailers).

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

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Contact Information

Waggener Edstrom Worldwide

Rapid Response Team

Microsoft Corp.

Contact via E-mail