Microsoft Picture It incompatability with Windows 7 and alternatives for .mix files.

Anonymous

I have been using Microsoft Picture It for years to design tons of graphics for my business and now I have purchased a new pc loaded with Windows 7 and find that my true love Picture It! is not compatable. I never dreamed this would be the case for a software that isn't even a decade old or that new pc I just spent thousands on would be sitting right back at the store it came from. I really feel that Microsoft has cheated me out of something I paid for and invested so much work in by making it unusable and it has brought my small business to a standstill. What other program is available that is compatable with Windows 7 that will allow me to edit and view existing .mix and other Picture It! format files and contain all the capabilities of Picture It? I would be willing to purchase additional software from Microsoft to make Picture It compatable to Windows 7 if necessary.

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Anonymous

Hello all,

I know that you are all disappointed that Microsoft Picture It is not compatible with Windows 7.

Your feedback would be better heard if you send it to the Windows 7 Feedback site.

http://mymfe.microsoft.com/Windows%207/Feedback.aspx?formID=195

These are your options when software is not compatible:

If the program is not compatible, then you may try to install and run the program in compatibility mode.

Use the following steps:

1) Right click on the Program

2) Click on Properties

3) Click on Compatibility tab

4) Select Run this program in compatibility mode and select Windows XP, Windows Vista or whatever operating system the program was running successfully.

Refer to the link here: Make older programs run in this version of Windows

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Make-older-programs-run-in-this-version-of-Windows

If you run Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate version, install Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP mode (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/default.aspx) and execute your software in Windows XP.

If you run Windows 7 Home Premium, try VirtualBox (www.virtualbox.org) or VMware Player

(www.vmware.com) or any other 3party virtualization software and install a separate copy of Windows XP (either Home Edition or Professional) for that purpose. You can find virtualization software free of charge that will run on Windows 7 Home Premium.

Sincerely,

Marilyn

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320 additional answers

Anonymous

2015-12-29T01:04:00+00:00

Check the dates on these complaints… all the way back to 2009. Microsoft has closed the book on this.. and they aren't going to even talk to you about it.. it really **** me offf.. i have been told it will run on older versions of internet explorer. I am considering using a computer totally for the purpose of using my picture it disc… install internet explorer older version before 7 and see what happens…
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Anonymous

2015-12-27T17:35:10+00:00

I still have my origonal Picture It Disc from 2000. When I installed it on Windows 8 I was able to use it "as administrator".

But I am having problems with Windows 10. I have been advised to install it in "Compatibility mode" but not sure how to do it. Can you help me please?

I agree absolutely that there is no other programme that I can do what I want to do in Picture It. Why on earth did they discard it?????
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Anonymous

2015-12-26T20:15:50+00:00

17I have so often wished there were a "Picture It Project" dedicated to updating Picture it, as there is for Windows Media Player Classic.

I've tried other "collage" programs, and have found them sorely lacking in tools and functionality. Some of them do nothing but make what I define as "scrapbook pages." Which is fine if that's all you want, just as photo editing software is fine if all you want to do it edit a photo by cropping, rotating, lightening or darkening, and making color corrections. But that is simply not enough to impress me.

The alternative to being able to use Picture It seems to be buying Photoshop, which the last time I priced it, was almost $700. I guess you can use it in the cloud now for a smaller monthly fee, but I do not want my work space in the cloud, thanks!

Picture It was probably the best software Microsoft ever made. But even by version 2002, they had killed it and turned it into nothing but a scrapbook page maker. And you could do that job with any cheap piece of **** software. The things I do with Picture it 2000 just cannot be duplicated anywhere else, even in Microsoft's Digital Image Pro, which was technically their attempt to add Picture It's functionality to a a photo organizer.

The thing is, it's a simple task to organize your photos without using any additional software. And the changes made to Picture It's excellence when it was scaled down to Digital Image Pro, instead of being an upgrade, just made it less functional.

I recently bought an unused copy of Picture It 2000 on eBay, and resurfaced the aging disks I already had. Barring more deliberate sabotage from Microsoft, I hope to see them last for the next 20 years!
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Anonymous

2015-12-26T19:17:03+00:00

Think that would be awesome Paul. But I sincerely doubt Microsoft would give-up PI's source code for others to make something wonderful with. They won't do it...but don't want US to do it either. Microsoft has always been a self aggrandizing son-of-a-****, uninterested in goodwill, or thanking loyal users with code to work with.

There are some terribly talented people in software devs. out there. Wonder who might see the benefits in creating a fantastic next-gen PI? All legal bases covered, keeping themselves harmless from Microsoft litigation.
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