I received this e-mail earlier in the week. I liked it so I asked if I could publish it to my blog, and Matthew gave me the okay:

Mr. Brewster,

I first contacted you in January asking if I could install Paint.NET* on the computers in my classroom. I teach at 7th and 8th graders at San Gorgonio Middle School in Beaumont, CA. You gave me the go-ahead and I immediately started using the program in all three of my computers classes. The results have been awesome. My students absolutely love using this program, and I am very happy because they got experience with a photo editing software other than Microsoft Paint.

Keeping in mind that these students range from 11 to 13 years old, the skills they have been able to display are phenomenal. You made it possible for about 100 students to get invaluable experience with this software, not to mention fostering their creativity and critical thinking skills. I can’t thank you and your team enough for giving myself and my classes this opportunity.

I’ve attached a .jpg “thank you” card from my students (sorry about the large file size).

Matthew Centofranchi
San Gorgonio Middle School
Math & Computers Teacher

Here’s a small preview of the card they attached. You can click it for a larger version. I’m not going to share the full version because it’s 6MB and I don’t want to shred my bandwidth quota for the month J

So, you’re welcome Matthew! I’m glad you and your students had fun and learned a lot with Paint.NET. It’s very rewarding to get an e-mail like this! Now if only the cute girl down at the coffee shop knew what “Paint.NET” was, then I’d be set …

If you have any other “success stories,” feel free to e-mail me (the address is at on the Contact page), or just post a comment to this blog!

* Yes, most people know that Paint.NET is free so it may seem puzzling why Matthew asked permission for his use. But it’s not always clear that this license extends to things like widespread network deployment, business use, or to use at a school with many users (in other words, that Paint.NET is free and not just for personal use). Many employers are skeptical when told that software is “free” and reasonably require some kind of proof, such as an e-mail confirmation from the software publisher (me!). I blame this “not always clear” aspect on the fact that we have to use scary looking software licenses that are written “by lawyers, for lawyers.” Oh and the license is often IN ALL SCARY CAPITALS WITH NO WARRANTIES J