The final version of the 3.0 release is now available for download. It’s only been just over a week since the release candidate was made available, so it looks like everything was ok. If you’ve got an earlier version installed, open up Paint.NET and go to Help -> Check for updates and follow the prompts, otherwise grab the installer from the download page. Note this version requires at least Windows XP SP2, Windows 2003 or Vista & the .NET Framework 2.0 to be installed.

Just a reminder of the new features in 3.0:

• Simple and intuitive tab-based multi-document user interface
• Now available in 8 languages: English, Chinese (Simplified), French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish
• Interactive Gradient Tool that makes it very easy to draw and then fine-tune placement and coloring of a gradient. (this is very cool, you can move the markers anywhere after placement to change the angle and distance of the gradient)
• User-definable color palette (as opposed to just the color wheel)
• New effects: Clouds, Median, Unfocus, Outline, and an improved Sharpen
• More intuitive and more powerful toolbar
• Generally improved and cleaner user interface
• History files are now compressed to save disk space, reduce disk activity, and improve performance.
• “Merge Down” layer command

Congratulations to Rick & his team, it’s a great product, worthy of support.