Paintshow

Paintshow is a DOS graphics program from an era when creating pictures on a computer still felt like a minor act of wizardry. It provides tools for drawing, editing, and manipulating images using the relatively limited graphics capabilities available on early PCs. Compared with modern painting applications, the interface is necessarily restrained, but that limitation can make experimentation rather enjoyable. You have fewer tools, fewer effects, and considerably less room for accidentally creating something that looks like a corporate presentation from 2007. Programs such as Paintshow helped establish the PC as a creative device rather than merely an office machine. Working within the constraints of DOS graphics requires a little patience, particularly when dealing with colors and screen resolutions that now seem tiny. Still, there is a certain satisfaction in producing an image while knowing that the computer has only a fraction of the capabilities of even the cheapest modern phone.