Microsoft Paint was an integral part of everyone’s childhood right from when they got their first desktop or laptop. Thirty two years later, this iconic app of Microsoft is now coming to an end or so we thought as per reports in some sections.
However, Microsoft has now clarified that it is not doing away wiith 'MS Paint', but it will still be available for free download in the Windows Store.
According to a report in New York Times, Microsoft played down the news in a statement, saying that Paint will continue to be available for free download and many of its features will remain in other places, including Paint 3D.
“MS Paint is here to stay, it will just have a new home soon, in the Windows Store where it will be available for free. Paint 3D – the new app for creativity, also available for free with the Windows 10 Creators Update, will continue to get new feature updates. In addition to the new 3D capabilities, many of the MS Paint features people know and love like photo editing, line and curve tools, and 2D creation are in Paint 3D,” it said in a blogpost, following a Twitter outburst.
Microsoft’s next Windows 10 update, called the Autumn (or Fall in the US) Creators Update, will bring a variety of new features, but Paint will not be a part of it.
Paint was released in 1985 with Microsoft’s first version, becoming one of the very first applications any graphic designer today would have used. Starting off as a 1-bit monochrome licensed version of ZSoft’s PC Paintbrush, it wasn’t until Windows 98 that Paint could save in JPEG, reports Guardian.
Paint has been one of the features that continued to be popular among users of Windows, even though its offerings have grown exponentially and feature-rich alternatives abound. The original Paint program boasts more than 100 million monthly users, Microsoft said in a blog post earlier this year.
In the new update, which was released in April, Microsoft has introduced the new Paint 3D, which is installed alongside traditional Paint and has a few 3D image making tools along with some basic 2D image editing. But it is not an update to original Paint and doesn’t behave like it.
Apart from Paint, Microsoft is also killing Outlook Express, Reader app and Reading list. The functionality of the Reading app and list will be integrated into Microsoft Edge.
The ‘Sync your settings’ feature too, is being killed. According to Microsoft, the current sync process is being deprecated. In a future release, the same cloud storage system for syncing settings will be used for both Enterprise State Roaming users and all other users. Currently, these users use different cloud storage systems.
The news of Paint being killed saw social media erupt with people expressing their dismay and mourning the loss of one of Microsoft’s most iconic applications.
Me hearing that Microsoft plan to 'ditch Paint'. pic.twitter.com/Ov2kT6VbPF
— Lilly Ashton (@cubmoth) July 24, 2017
Hey, @Microsoft, we have a hostage. If you want to see him alive again, don´t kill Paint. Paint is OURS. LAST WARNING. pic.twitter.com/x4omvcVpNH
— Martin McKnife (@Martin_McKnife) July 24, 2017