Developer(s) CoolMoon Corp License Proprietary | Operating system | |
Initial release Early 1993; 24 years ago (1993) Stable release 2006 / May 2006; 10 years ago (2006-05) Type Bitmap graphics editor / Image viewer | ||
LView Pro (LVP) is a bitmap graphics editor for computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system developed by Leonardo H. Loureiro, who owns the copyright to the software and the LView registered trademark. LView Pro is distributed by CoolMoon Corp.
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Commercial history
The first version of LView software, 1.0, was released as freeware on the Internet in early 1993, and was the Windows based image viewer bundled with the earlier web browser Mosaic.
In 1994, the first version of LView Pro was sold as a shareware product by MMedia Research. Retail versions of LView Pro, 2.0 and newer, were introduced in 1997. LView quickly gained popularity, in part because it has traditionally been priced well below the range of other professional bitmap editors, like Adobe Photoshop and Corel Paint Shop Pro.
In 2001, versions of LView Pro started being titled using the year of release, the current version - as of May 2006 - is labeled LView Pro 2006.
In June 2005, after a 12-year run with MMedia Research, distribution rights to LView Pro were transferred to CoolMoon Corp.
Version history
LView software started as a pioneer JPEG viewer, one of the first to be available for download on the Internet. Major versions 1.* (1.0 to 1.D2) offered limited image editing capabilities (crop, rotate, color adjustments, etc.) in addition to common image viewing operations (zooming, slideshows, etc.).
Major versions 2.x (2.0 to 2.85) featured more extensive editing capabilities (brushes, selections, histograms, gradients, etc.) as well as new editors for Web Picture Galleries, Contact Sheets, and others. Versions from 2001 to the current, support sophisticated image editing (layers, transparency, objects, etc.).
While newer versions of LView Pro were designed for more advanced image editing, the software still retained the image viewing functionality offered by earlier releases. The sizeable growth in LView Pro's functionality over the years came with the price of a steeper learning curve, and novice users may not immediately find the commands they are looking for. For that reason, some early users prefer to continue to use version 1.D2, the last image viewer oriented version of LView Pro.