Download Paint.NET 2.6 alpha 1

After the final release of version 2.5 came out at the end of last month, the developers of Paint.NET have not sat back. They have just released the first alpha release of version 2.6. Paint.NET is an open source photo editing program that is a cross between the MS Paint that comes with Windows and a program like Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro. It only works under Windows 2000, XP and 2003 Server and is developed in C#, so it requires the .NET FrameWork to be installed.

In version 2.6 a number of major changes have been made. First of all, version 2.0 of the .NET FrameWork is now being used, where it was still version 1.1 in 2.5. There is also one for convenience Download (53.7MB) that it comes with. Furthermore, Paint.NET has full support for 64-bit processors and operating systems. In addition, a number of minor changes have been made. A complete list can be found below:

Alpha 1 includes the following changes since version 2.5:

• Now uses .NET Framework 2.0
• Full support for 64-bit processors, both x64 and Itanium (32-bit also supported, of course)
• UI has been aesthetically upgraded (new icons, toolbars, etc.)
• Layer ordering has been flipped “right side up” in the UI
• Layer composition engine is now correct, and also much faster
• Seven new layer blend modes: Color Burn, Color Dodge, Reflect, Glow, Overlay, Negation, and Xor
• Checkerboard “transparency” background is now rendered in screen coordinates so that it does not scale with the zoom level
• Pixelate effect is now much faster
• Ability to choose language during setup

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