Since we already released a few alpha versions of Pictomio and still a few are yet to come, I want to explain a bit the potential consequences of using the software in such an early stage of development.

Every user should be aware that the application may be instable and that crashes may occur. Normally a crash is nothing to worry about, the application just stops working with an error message. After that you can usually start it again and keep working with it.

Sometimes the application may seem to have quit, but is still running in the background. In this case it may not be possible to start Pictomio again, because currently only one instance of the application may run at the same time. To solve this issue you must terminate the process in the Windows Task Manager (shortcut Ctrl + Shift + Esc) before starting it again.

Under certain rare circumstances it is possible that the graphics card driver reports an error which may result in a blue screen which in turn means you have to restart your computer. This happened in the past on some PCs but was not reported again. Nevertheless it is wise to save all pending work before starting an alpha version of Pictomio.

One more important thing you should also always keep in mind is that we may update our database structure until the final version is released. In the worst case this will erase your local Pictomio database and replace it with a new version. This means that all  your tags, descriptions, ratings, etc. you entered will be lost. Also the link between images and albums/categories and all your favorites will vanish. After we release the final version, all following updates will ensure that all these data in your Pictomio database will be carried over to new database versions, so that your work will be saved. Until then it is highly recommended that you do not use Pictomio for really organizing your pictures and entering additional information like annotations, tags, etc., because there is a risk that you will lose your work after a new alpha version is released.

In spite of all these restrictions and risks we would be happy if you would take a look at Pictomio alpha versions and gives us feedback about your experience. And remember to check our final release end of this year.

Stephan